OF EASTERN TURKISTAN, 49 
The descent was very gradual, along an old moraine, 
and we soon entered a wide valley through which the Shayok 
- River ran from left to right. Our camp here (Sassér) is 15,224 
feet high, on a gravelly terrace about 400 feet above the level of 
the Shayok River. In front of us there is a range of high and 
barren rocky mountains, forming the eastern side of the valley ; 
to the left the course of the river can only be seen for a short 
distance where the Shayok valley seems to be blocked up by an 
enormous glacier called Kumdan ; to the right the Shayok River 
can be seen flowing along for a distance of about eight or ten 
miles in a wide shingly plain with high mountains on each side. 
A herd of Burrel ( Ovisnahura was seen feeding onsome stunted 
grass, on the opposite side of the valley, near the river. 
Although it seemed a hopeless place for a stalk I started off to 
try and geta shot at the sheep. I forded the river (riding), 
which opposite our camp runs in half a dozen channels, and 
then had a long climb up and along the hill side, trying to 
approach the Burrel unobserved. It was no use, however, 
and I had to take a running shot at one, at a distance of about 
four hundred yards, while I was utterly breathless from exer- 
tion. Of course I missed, and the herd (13) quietly trotted up 
the hill side; they stopped every now and'then to get a good 
look at me, in a most tantalising manner. 
11th.—Sassér to Murghu.—Last night it blew rather hard, and 
the barometer in my tent was nearly knocked over by a 
falling table. One of our horses died too (the first that has yet 
succumbed), from the combined effects of fatigue and the eleva- 
tion of the march. We commenced our march this morning 
by crossing the Shayok River, nearly at the point where I 
forded it yesterday, and then entered a narrow gorge through 
which a small stream ran down into the Shayok. ‘The ravine 
was bounded on each side by precipices of dark slaty looking 
rock, and wound about considerably; at about every fifty 
yards we had to wade through the small clear stream, whose 
bed was composed of various beautifully colored pebbles, as it 
crossed the gorge at every bend, flowing close to the rocky 
walls. We breakfasted at a place where the gorge windened a 
little, and then ascended to a wide plain, bounded on each side 
by high mountains, on which large isolated boulders of rock 
were lying here and there. The small stream I have mentioned 
evidently drained this plain to the south. The plain sloped 
down gently to our camping ground here—a grassy valley, quite 
boggy in places from the presence of springs, aud having high 
platforms of conglomerate on each side of it. 
The birds observed were the Raven, the Red-billed Chough, 
Montifringilla hematopygia, Saxicola desertti and Guldenstadt’s 
G 
