48 JOURNEY TO THE PAMIRS. 



ceeding to Sirikul by the shortest route, there to 

 shoot the Ovis poli called in Turk! goolja ; that 

 having done so, we intended to go to Yarkand, 

 and spend the winter in the plains of Turkistan ; 

 that I was furnished with a passport from Pekin 

 to pass me all over the dominion, and that this 

 passport enabled me to take a friend with me, 

 pointing to Bower. I then produced the precious 

 document, which, being written in Chinese, was 

 quite unintelligible to them ; but the sight of it 

 proved satisfactory, and they took leave, going 

 off to have a talk with our followers, to find out, 

 probably, if we had been speaking the truth for, 

 of course, they could not understand why we 

 undertook such an arduous journey just to kill a 

 beast or two. 



On September the ist we were up at daylight, 

 and just starting, when the head of the karaol 

 appeared, and begged us not to go through the 

 town of Kugiar, as he had strict orders from the 

 Amban of Yarkand that no travellers were to pass 

 that way. This was rather disappointing, as we 

 wished to see the place ; besides which, we heard 

 that the alternative road led over a pretty high 

 ridge. They told us that over the ridge was 

 much the quickest way ; for if we went by Kugiar, 



