START AGAIN FOR THE PAMIRS. 229 



plans. The Russian route carried the day, by 

 which I should reach England in July. 



My idea was to start westward and get to the 

 Pamirs by the Guz defile, and hunt for poll wher- 

 ever the spirit might lead me, in the direction of 

 the Great Kara - kul Pamir, dropping down by 

 the Alai valley, and on to Marghilan, where I 

 heard the post-road ran to Samarkand. 



The ponies having arrived, and a Shighnani 

 guide procured, who professed to know the coun- 

 try as far as the Russian frontier, I was once more 

 in the saddle, getting to Borakatai, a distance of 

 some twenty-five miles from Kashgar, on the loth 

 of May. It was a large village, with well-culti- 

 vated land all round, which at this season gave the 

 country a prosperous appearance, but which grew 

 gradually less so, as our road led along the foot 

 of the mountains, where the plains are always 

 arid and stony. The day was so thick and hazy 

 that we could see nothing of the mountains 

 ahead ; only a dimly formed outline was visible 

 as we entered a bay between two stony spurs, 

 the entrance of the Guz defile. 



A short distance up the valley was a serai 

 called Tash Balik, the custom-house or karaol for 

 caravans coming from Badakshan and Shighnan. 



