TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 659 



Mongolia. The distance covered totalled nearly four thousand miles, and lay 

 over routes which to a great extent had never previously been traversed. The 

 only persons who completed the whole of the journey were Lieutenant Etherton 

 and his native orderly, a Garhwali from the Himalayas, the caravan men and 

 followers being changed from time to time. The average strength of the caravan 

 was ten men, but this was varied to meet circumstances. Lieutenant Etherton 

 left Lansdowne in the Himalayas in March 1909 and travelled via Kashmir, the 

 Gilgit Valley, and Hunza to the Pamirs, meeting with great difficulties on the 

 way, owing to the road being blocked by snow and huge avalanches. On the 

 Pamirs the expedition remained one month, camp being at an elevation of from 

 14,000 to 15,000 feet above sea-level. From the Pamirs Lieutenant Etherton 

 proceeded by the Hi Su Pass (16,750 feet) to the little-known Yarkand Eiver, and 

 thence crossed into the Kulan Urgu Valley by a pass (17,400 feet) which had 

 never previously been crossed by a white man. Here the expedition met with 

 numerous difficulties owing to the mountainous nature of the country, one of the 

 yaks being lost down a precipitous slope, falling over 1,500 feet. After that the 

 greatest difficulty was experienced in crossing fords in the Kulan Urgu valley. 

 Lieutenant Etherton arrived there in June, when the water is at its highest from 

 the melting snow. The fords are extremely dangerous, yet twenty-six of them 

 were crossed in one day. From the Kulan Urgu valley the expedition crossed 

 by two high passes into the valley of the Asgar Sai, and down this to Yarkand, 

 where it arrived in the middle of June after many adventures. Thence the 

 journey was continued onward through Chinese Turkistan for several hundreds 

 of miles to the Tian Shan Mountains, the central portion of the mountain 

 system of Asia. Here three months were passed, during which Lieutenant 

 Etherton visited and traversed the Great Yulduz valley, about which compara- 

 tively little is known since the Russian explorer Prejevalsky travelled through a 

 part of it in 1873. In the Tian Shan the expedition was in the midst of the ibex 

 and the Asiatic wapiti country, and some fine specimens of the latter were bagged. 

 Thence the expedition crossed into the Hi valley and on to Kulja, a town of 

 much political importance. From here Lieutenant Etherton struck through the 

 Sairam Nor and Ebi Nor country and the mountains beyond to Chuguchak, a 

 town in Western Mongolia. In this stage of the march difficulties were number- 

 less, for the region is practically unknown, the people lawless, while the climate 

 at this season (November and December) is noted for its severity. It was in 

 the country bordering on that vast inland sea, the Ebi Nor, that the traveller 

 first saw wild horses. He passed around the Kesil Bach Nor, in Mongolia, another 

 inland sea. The expedition encountered strange nomad tribes of Kalmuks, 

 Kazaks, Kirghiz, and Mongols, concerning whom many interesting notes were 

 gathered. The expedition reached the foot of the Great Altai Mountains on the 

 northern side of the Black Irtish valley at the end of December, with the thermo- 

 meter at —35° and the whole country ice-bound. The Altai form the principal 

 range in this part of Asia, their composition consisting largely of argillaceous 

 schists, with granite in the higher parts, and alluvium and diluvium lower 

 down. In this extensive chain is found a great variety of the larger fauna, 

 including Ovis Amnion, the true Argali of the great Argali sheep of Central 

 Asia, as well as the Altai wapiti, red bear of a species peculiar to the Altai, roe 

 deer, and other animals. While in the Altai the expedition was caught in a 

 blizzard, and practically the entire caravan was frost-bitten, including Lieutenant 

 Etherton and his orderly. Thence ensued twelve fearful days of trekking to 

 a small military post on the Siberian-Mongolian frontier, where medical assistance 

 was available. The expedition arrived here on January 9, 1910, and a month 

 later continued the journey for eight hundred miles through Siberia to the Trans- 

 Siberian Railway, mostly by sledge. Lieutenant Etherton's trophies included 

 ibex, the rare Asiatic wapiti stag, roe deer, Ovis Karelini, &c. He reached 

 England in March 1910. 



