240 THE KARAKUL PAMIR AND HOME. 



was easy enough, but the ponies felt the altitude. 

 The top of the pass was flat, with about 2 feet 

 of soft snow upon it. 



From here there was a beautiful view of 

 the Karakul Pamir, with the great salt lake of 

 that name in the centre. It was still frozen 

 over in the eastern portion ; but the western, 

 which is nearly cut off by two promontories, 

 was open water, and of an intense blue colour. 

 To the north, running east and west, extended 

 the Trans-Alai mountains, with Kaufmann Peak 

 towering head and shoulders above the rest, 

 looking splendid with his great snowy cap. The 

 cold, however, was too intense to linger long 

 even over such a magnificent scene as this ; 

 so we set to work to zigzag our way from the 

 crest by a pretty steep descent to the valley 

 which led to the Khargoshi Pamir. 



There we saw a group of yurts in the distance, 

 in one of which, my old shikari said, we should 

 probably find Karim Khan. Riding up to the 

 best of these, I asked a Kirghiz standing near if 

 Karim Khan lived there ? " No," he replied ; 

 "he has gone off to Karaart with some sheep." 



This was rather a bad shot, as we had just 

 come from there, and I told him so. " Oh, if 



