258 The American Naturalist. [March, 
Dara is known as Shignan. Littledale’s encampment on the Alichur 
Pamir, was at a height of 13,625 feet. Lake Kara Kul, north of the 
Akru-Murghab, is 12,400 feet above the sea. 
East of the Great and Little Pamirs are Tagh-kum-bash and Sari- 
kol, the streams from which, among them the Markhan-su, flow into 
the Kashgar and Yarkand Rivers, and thus geographically fall to 
China, which has,in fact, raised her banner on the Sarikol plateau. 
The two maps which have been published in the Proc. Roy. Geog. 
Soc. during the past year exhibit differences in the course of these 
atiuents. 
The important range of the Hindu Kush separates the Chitral and 
Hunza district from the Pamir and more northern valleys. This range 
is crossed by the extraordinary depression, two to three miles wide, 
known as the Baroghil Pass (12,480 feet). Through Chitral Valley 
flows the Yarkhun River, rising in a small lake bearing the title of 
Gaz Kul, and flowing somewhat south of west toward the Indus. Close 
to this Gaz Kul, even if not occasionally united with it, is another 
small lake, from which issues the Karambar River, which with the 
Gilghit and Hunza Rivers, join the higher course of the Indus, where it 
flows toward the west, before bursting through the Himalayas. The 
western part of this Indus-draining region is known as Chitral, and is 
situated at an average elevation of 5200 feet on the southern slopes of 
the Hindu Kush, amid spurs from fourteen to twenty-five thousand 
feet above sea level. On the south it is bounded by the petty States 
of Asmar and Dir. The valley is reputed to be very fertile, and is 
said to have a population of a hundred and fifty to two hundred thous- 
and, without reckoning the Bushgali Kafirs. The Mehtar or Bad- 
shah of Chitral, is said to be able to bring into the field 6000 fighting 
men, all careful marksmen. Chitral, about 150 miles from the town 
of Gilghit, is an aggregation of six large villages situated along the 
river, which in the Geographical Journal is called the Kashkar. The 
names Yarkhun and Kashkar seem to be identical with the Yarkana 
and Kashgar of Chinese Turkistan. 
Mr. and Mrs. Littledale reached the Pamir region via the Russian 
‘Trans-Caspian railway. The route from Samarkand to Marghilan, the 
capital of Kokhand, is described as an alternation of barrenness with 
gardens of Eden. Continuing southward, they followed the Gulcha 
River and crossed the Alai plateau over the Little Alai range. 
‘Through the passes of Taldik (11,600), Shart (12,800), Terek (over 
12,000), Kalin Art (10,800) and Kizil Art (14,200), they reached 
‘Kara Kul Lake, and then, after encamping within sight of Lake 
