40 JOURNEY TO THE PAMIRS. 



get a team of yaks, and so give the ponies a 

 rest, we should never get to Sirikul. By good 

 luck we saw some grazing near our next camp, 

 and arranged with the Malik (headman) for a 

 team of ten. This was a great relief to our 

 minds ; for to break down where we were would 

 have been wretched indeed, while four days with- 

 out a load, and a fair amount of grass, which 

 they said we should find, would pull the cripples 

 round wonderfully. 



The yaks were so late in coming that we 

 began to be afraid our friends had repented of 

 their bargain ; but at ten o'clock they appeared, 

 saying they had some trouble in catching them, 

 for, when grazing, Bos gruniens becomes rather 

 wild. It was useless attempting to cross the Topa 

 Dawan that day ; so, coming to a good ground, 

 we determined to unload and give the beasts 

 a chance of a mouthful of grass. This was cer- 

 tainly the best ground of the whole journey. On 

 the banks of a river, which looked as if it ought 

 to be full of fish, extended a broad strip of grass, 

 with groves of willow and birch-trees, and here 

 and there patches of tamarisk jungle. The grass 

 was very good, and our ponies thoroughly en- 

 joyed themselves. Not so the poor yaks, how- 



