1857.] Report on the Progress oftlie Magnetic Survey. Ill 



Prom the Sassar Pass, our route brought us to the large plateau 

 to the south of Karakoram, the mean elevation of which reaches 17,100 

 feet. On the 9th of August, we crossed without any difficulty the 

 frontier of Turkistan. "We were accompanied by Mani, the Putwaree 

 of Milum, by Makshoot, a former servantof Moorcroft's, and by Maho- 

 med Amin, an aged Turkistani, whom we found particularly useful on 

 account of his general knowledge of the country. "We had besides 

 six horses for ourselves and servants, (the three men above mention- 

 ed,) thirteen horses for baggage, five Tarkandis, and some fifteen 

 sheep and goats. The Tarkandis with horses and provisions we 

 sent secretly on ahead, and we only met them, as by chance, in 

 Nubra. Our servants from India accompanied us as far as Sassar, 

 from whence we travelled dressed as Tarkandis. The day before 

 we passed Karakorum, (18,300 feet) we met a large caravan of 

 merchants from Tarkand, to whom we gave out that we intended 

 to march on along the Tarkand road ; but as soon as we had passed 

 Karakorum, we left this road and went to the east, to Kissilkorum, 

 (17,400 feet) the high water-shed between the Tarkand and the 

 Karakash rivers. We crossed in one day four Passes, more than 

 17,000 feet above the level of the sea, but only slightly elevated 

 above the surrounding plateaux. 



"We followed from Kissilkorum the direction of the principal 

 chain of the Kuenluen, now turning to the south south-east, till we 

 reached a lake, Kiiik-kiul, (u like oo in wood ; u like u in but) 

 slightly salt, situated at the northern foot of the Changchenmo. 

 Up to this point our route had chiefly led us over extensive plateaux, 

 16,000 to 17,000 feet above the level of the sea, of a much greater 

 extent than those to the south of Karakorum ; but from this lake 

 we followed the valley of the Karakash river, to the right of which 

 there are no plateaux, while to the left they extend as far as Suget. 



The sterility of the plateau to the north of Karakorum, as well as 

 of the Karakash valley, is quite surprising : without the frequent, 

 though not very abundant, precipitation of snow, chiefly caused by 

 the great elevation of the ridges, these plateaux would be complete 

 deserts. In a march of eighteen miles, we only met with four 

 species of plants ; for many days grass was exceedingly scarce, while 

 for several days we had absolutely none, the grass round the 



