122 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX No 473 



force the ponies up a deep, violent stream rushing over huge 

 bowlders between precipitous, rocky cliffs, in which they no- 

 ticed large, square holes pierced, suggesting to them that in 

 former days this, the high road between Eastern and Western 

 Asia, was probably improved by having a bridge over this 

 difficult and dangerous part; then over the Chichiklik and 

 Koh-mamak Passes and the Tagarma Plain, till they reached 

 the neighborhood of Tash-kurgan, the northernmost point of 

 Captain Tounghusband's explorations in the previous year. 

 Passing through the Little Pamir, they struck the Alichur 

 Pamir near Chadir-tash at its eastern extremity, and from 

 there they looked down a broad level vaJley, averaging' four 

 or five miles in width, to some high, snowy peaks overhang- 

 ing Lake Yeshil-kul at its western extremity. The range 

 bounding this Pamir on the north is free of snow in summer, 

 but that sepai'atiug it from the Great Pamir is of considera- 

 ble height, the summits are always covered with snow, and 

 the passes across it difHcult. Traces of ancient glaciers are 

 very frequent, and the western end near Lake Yeshil-kul is 

 choked up with their moraines, forming a sea of gravel 

 mounds, in the hollows of which numerous lesser lakes may 

 be seen. On the borders of Yeshil-kul, at a place called 

 Somatash, Captain Younghusband found the fragments of a 

 stone bearing an ancient inscription in Turki, Chinese, and 

 Manchu. This interesting relic, as far as Captain Young- 

 husband has been able to get the rubbings he took of it 

 translated, refers to the expulsion of the two Khojas from 

 Kashgar by the Chinese in 1759, and relates how they were 

 pursued to the Badakhshan frontier. 



From the Ak-su Valley the two travellers ascended the 

 sterile valley of the Ak-baital, which at this season of the 

 year (October) has no water in it, and visited Lake Eang- 

 kul. " On the edge of this lake is a prominent outstanding 

 rock, in which there is a cave with what appears to be a 

 perpetual light burning in it. This rock is called by the na- 

 tives Chiragh-tash, i.e., the Lamp Rock, and they account 

 for the light by saying that it comes from the eye of a dragon 

 which lives in the cave. This interesting rock naturally ex- 

 cited my curiosity. From below I could see the light quite 

 distinctly, and it seemed to come from some phosphorescent 

 substance. I asked the Kirghiz if any one had ever entered 

 the cave, and they replied that no one would dare to risk the 

 anger of the dragon. My Afghan orderly, however, had as 

 little belief in dragons as I had, and we set off to scale the 

 cliff together, and by dint of taking off our boots and scram- 

 bling up the rocks, very much like cats, we managed to reach 

 the mouth of the cave, and on gaining an entrance found 

 that the light came neither from the eye of a dragon nor 

 from any phosphorescent substance, but from the usual 

 source of light — the sun. The cave, in fact, extended to 

 the other side of the rock, thus forming a hole right through 

 it. From below, however, you cannot see this, but only the 

 roof of the cavern, which, being covered with a lime deposit, 

 reflects a peculiar description of light. Whether the super- 

 stitious Kirghiz will believe this or not I cannot -say, but I 

 think the probability is that they will prefer to trust to the old 

 traditions of their forefathers rather than the wild story of a 

 hare-brained stranger. The water of the Eang-kul is salt, 

 and the color is a beautiful clear blue. The mountains in the 

 vicinity are low, rounded, and uninteresting, though from 

 eastern end a fine view of the great snowy Tagarma Peak 

 may be obtained." 



The winter was spent in Kashgar. On July 22, 1891, Cap- 

 tain Younghusband left to return to India by way of the Pa- 

 mirs and Gilgit. 



" On reaching the Little Kara-kul Lake, a piece of inter- 

 esting geography, which I believe had been first noticed by 

 Mr. Ney Elias, on his journey through these parts some 

 years ago, presented itself. Captain Trotter of the Forsyth 

 mission saw from the plains of Kashgar a stupendous peak, 

 the height of which he found to be 25,300 feet, and the posi- 

 tion of which he determined accurately. From Tash-kurgan 

 or its neighborhood he also saw a high mountain mass in 

 the direction of the peak he had fixed from near Kashgar; 

 bad weather prevented his determining the position of this 

 second peak, but he thought there was no doubt that the 

 two were identical. Such, however, is not the case. There 

 are two peaks, about twenty miles apart, one on either side 

 of the Little Kara-kul Lake. That seen from Tash-kurgan 

 is the true Tagarma Peak, and cannot be seen from Kashgar; 

 while that seen from Kashgar cannot be seen from Tash-kur- 

 gan. There appeared to me to be very little difference in 

 height between the two. Both are remarkable not only for 

 their extraordinary height, but also for their great massive- 

 ness. They are not mere peaks, but great masses of 

 mountain, looking from the lake as if they bulged out from 

 the neighboring plain; and one sees far more distinctly than 

 is usually the case, the layers upon layers of rock which 

 have been upturned like the leaves of a book forced upwards. 

 It str.uck me, too, especially from the appearance of the 

 rocks in the neighborhood of the northernmost peak, that 

 these must have been upheaved far more recently than the 

 worn-out-looking mountains in the centre of the region of 

 the Pamirs. The appearance of these two great mountain 

 masses rising in stately grandeur on either side of a beautiful 

 lake of clear blue water is, as may be well imagined, a truly 

 magnificent spectacle, and, high as they are, their rise is so 

 gradual and even that one feels sorely tempted to ascend 

 their maiden summits and view the scene from the loftiest 

 parapets of the 'Roof of the World.' " 



On Oct. 4 Captain Younghusband and a companion left 

 the Tagh-dum-bash Pamir to explore " an interesting little 

 corner of Central Asia, the point where the two watersheds 

 — the one between the Indus on the south and the Oxus and 

 Eastern Turkistan Rivers on the north, and the other between 

 the Oxus on the west and the Eastern Turkistan Rivers on 

 the east — join. If any point can be called the Heart of 

 Central Asia I should think this must be it. Here on the 

 Oxus side of the watershed are vast snow-fields and glaciers, 

 and among these, with three of its sides formed of cliffs of 

 ice — the terminal walls of glaciers — we found a small lake, 

 about three-quarters of a mile in width, out of which flowed 

 the stream which joins the Panja branch of the Oxus at 

 Bozai-Gumbaz." 



After this Captain Younghusband made his way down to 

 Kashmir. 



FURTHER CONFIRMATION OF THE DISCOVERY 

 OF THE INFLUENZA BACILLUS. 



In January, 1890, Professor Babes of Bucharest investi- 

 gated nine cases of influenza. The difficulty of studying 

 them was increased from the fact that complications with 

 other diseases wei-e involved. Unfortunately, also, no ex- 

 periments were made upon animals. Yet, from the results 

 then found,' it will be seen that the bacteria are the same as 

 those discovered by Pfeiffer. which Babes himself acknowl- 

 edges." 



1 Centralblatt fur Bacteriologle, Bd. VII., No. 8, 15, 17-19. 

 = Deutsche Med. Woohensclirift, Feb. 11, 1893. 



