Il8 JOURNEY TO YARKAND. 



had an agreeable surprise. A Yarkandi whom 

 we met, dismounted, and coming to me, asked 

 my name. On hearing it he told me he had been 

 sent by Mahomed Unis, the Badakshani Aksakal, 

 with a packet of letters which had arrived by 

 caravan. This was a real treat, for we had had 

 no letters since we left Leh. 



The Kizil Dawan was our final fence, and we 

 had now a straight run before us ; but although 

 we were at a much lower altitude, 7000 feet, the 

 night was the coldest we had experienced since 

 we left the high Pamir. The thermometer went 

 down to 3 below zero. 



Our road went through one of the finest gorges 

 I ever saw. The stream which we followed 

 flowed between two tremendous cliffs, which rose 

 up on each side for 400 feet : in places they were 

 only 20 feet apart, and here and there they almost 

 met overhead. It would have made a grand en- 

 trance to Gustave Dore's " Inferno." The water 

 was frozen, and we had to cross and recross every 

 20 yards or so. Sometimes it bore the ponies, 

 but in places they went through : the uncertainty 

 made it very nasty travelling. Where the ice 

 was very smooth and slippery we had to throw 

 sand and gravel across. Of course, every now 



