222 EXPEDITION TO KALMUK. 



* 



be thankful for, and the shade of my tent was 

 another. 



While meditating over my pipe that evening, 

 and resting my somewhat wearied limbs, there 

 suddenly came a whirr of wings overhead, and 

 several grouse lighted by the spring to drink : 

 they were the ordinary " Imperial grouse," such 

 as are met with in the plains of North- West 

 India in the cold weather. They are migrants, 

 so probably came over these steppes. 



Another rocky gorge brought us gradually 

 down to a lower steppe, still more arid than the 

 last, and from there the descent continued to a 

 cultivated plain with villages and orchards. 

 These scattered hamlets, which cover an area 

 of from five to eight square miles, are called 

 collectively Kalti Ailak. 



We were now within a couple of marches of 

 Kashgar, the road being across this plain, past 

 the village of Artish, which is of a considerable 

 size, to a barren ridge of hill, the division between 

 the valley of Artish and Kashgar. There was a 

 very narrow defile through this ridge, being, in 

 fact, a cutting with perpendicular sides, and so 

 narrow that the ponies got jammed now and 

 again with others coming the opposite way, 



