124 Notes on Central Asia. [No. 3, 



extremity of the lake Issyk-Kul. Here I came upon numerous 

 encampments of the hostile Sary-Bagysh trihe, who shortly before 

 my arrival, had had a fierce engagement with a Russian detachment ; 

 which had been sent out from Vernoe, to punish these mountaineers, 

 for acts of violence and plunder. Notwithstanding that, I met with 

 a hospitable reception from the Sary-Bagyshes who were comme- 

 morating the death of many of their kinsmen who had fallen in the 

 recent conflict, I was not able to penetrate beyond the first exposed 

 rocky spurs of the Celestial range, nor to visit its wild defiles, being 

 apprehensive of treachery from the revengeful mountaineers, who had 

 lately been so severely punished by the Russians. 



However, in the spring of 1857, thanks to the escort kindly fur- 

 nished me by Governor- General Hasford, who displayed great zeal and 

 energy in furthering the organisation and exploration of the newly 

 acquired region, I was enabled to realise all my plans. The deadly 

 strife between the two Kara- Kirghiz tribes was then at its height, 

 and the valleys of the Tian-Shan seemed quite inaccessible. A 

 happy combination of circumstances, however, removed this apparently 

 insurmountable obstacle to my journey. 



A rumour, that had spread with extraordinary rapidity, through 

 almost the whole of the Musta'g (the Turk name for the western 

 portion of the Tian-Shan) of the approach of a strong Russian detach- 

 ment, anned with terrible instruments of destruction,* for the purpose 

 of assisting the Manap Burambai, produced a sudden panic among 

 the Sary-Bagysh tribe, inducing them to relinquish, not only the 

 camping grounds they had seized from the Bogus, but even their own 

 native pasturages, from the upper course of the Djirgalan, along the 

 whole border of Issyk-Kul, for an extent of more than 200 versts 

 and to migrate to the upper course of the Syr-Daria (Marym). The 

 Bogu tribe who had been previously attacked by the Bagyshes in the 

 spring of 1857, and driven into Chinese limits, expected their complete 

 destruction ; the sudden flight of their enemies dispelled their fears 

 and enabled them to re-occupy their former camping grounds, and 



* The exaggerated accounts respecting the strength of ray escort were owin^ 

 to my having really reached Burambaisauls accompanied by 800 horsemen • 

 but these consisted of a body of Kirghizes of the Great Horde under the Sultan 

 Tezek who had voluntarily joined my detachment. My own personal escort 

 consisted of only 25 cossacks. 



