TOO EXPLORATION IN CHINESE TURKESTAN. 



for our bagg-age ponies. Fortunately it was possible to replace them 

 by yaks at Karangliu-tagh, a small settlement of herdsmen which, 

 owing to its inaccessibility, is also used as a penal station for select 

 malefactors from Khotan. * ' Karanghu-tagh " literally means ' ' moun- 

 tain of l)linding darkness "' — a fitting enough name for this terribly 

 bleak place of ])anishment. The Kash Riyer, on wdiich it lies, is fed by 

 a series of great glaciers on the main range to the soutli, and joins the 

 Yurung-kash a few miles below the hamlet. 



Leaving the ponies and whateyer of baggage could l)c spared at 

 Karanghu-tagh, I endeayored to follow up the gorge of the Yurung- 

 kash as far as possil)le toward the head of the river. The hilhnen 

 knew of no track beyond a point known as " Issik-l)ulak/"' from its 

 hot-spring. There the river, unfordable even late in the autumn, fills 

 completely the narrow passage it has cut round the mighty southern 

 buttresses of "Kuen-luen No. 5," and progress becomes impossible, 

 even for yaks. Accompanied by Ram Singh and a couple of Taghliks, 

 I penetrated, on Octolier 27, a few miles farther into the gorge, 

 climbing with difficulty along the precipitous clift's which face the 

 frowning ridges on the south. But no track could be discovered prac- 

 ticable for load-carrying men, and ultimately I had to turn back. It 

 was impossil)le for me to wait for the chance of the river getting com- 

 pU'tely frozen. Even then I doubt whether a practicable passage could 

 be secured, considering the rigors of the winter and the masses of 

 fallen rock likely to be encountered. It is from the higli hut com- 

 paratiyeh" open ground ni^ar the sources far away to the southeast 

 that the uppermost portion of the rivi'r coui'se will have finally to be 

 explored. 



From Karanghu-tagh we proceeded to the northwest by a difficult 

 route, which forms the only connection of the valley with the outer 

 world l)esid(\s that we had come l)y. It required a good deal of nego- 

 tiation and "demiofficial"" pressure before the surh' hillmen of 

 Karanghu-tagh would supply guides and j^aks for it. The inhospital)le 

 mountain tract into which it took us had so far remained wholly 

 unexplored. 



OA'er a succession of high transverse ranges we crossed into the val- 

 leys of Nissa and Chash. By camping close to the passes we managed 

 to clind) to some excellent survey stations, particularly on the Brinjak 

 ridge, some 15,300 feet above the sea. The views I obtained there 

 will show, better than any description could, the weird grandeur of 

 this mountain scenery. Below a glacier-clad crest line, of an approxi- 

 mate height of 20,000 feet, there rise in all directions fantastically 

 serrated ridges, with deep gorges between them, like the waves of an 

 angry sea. Exceptionally clear weather favored us; but the increasing 

 cold and the exposure inevitable on such elevated ground made surve}'^ 

 work, especiall}^ with the ])hototheodolite, very trying. (PI. iii). 



