84 
NARRATIVE. 
tunately, we got over this plain before the wind rose, 
for later in the day clouds of salt were raised by the 
breeze, and we saw the remains of a former caravan 
which had probably been destroyed in this way. This 
salt plahi illustrated very well the mode in which 
rock-salt may have been deposited, and I have no 
doubt, that before a very great lapse of time, this salt 
plain will be buried by blown sand and entirely con- 
cealed from view. 
At the end of the salt plain we encamped for the 
night in a valley, where we found some grass and 
where we got a little water by digging in what ap- 
peared the dry bed of a stream, and next morning we 
marched twenty-one miles and encamped on the 
banks of the Karakash river. At first our route was 
down a gorge, which led from the end of the salt 
plain towards the Karakash valley, and was evidently 
the bed of a former torrent that probably at one 
time drained a lake, the remains of which have now 
dried up and left the deposit of salt. We entered 
the Karakash valley ten miles from camp, but had to 
march ten miles farther before we found grass and fuel. 
The main stream of the Karakash joins this valley 
at right angles about four miles below where we 
entered it, and has there an altitude above the sea of 
about 15,600 feet. On either side rugged peaks of 
granite rose to more than 20,000 feet. The numerous 
spurs which projected into the valley were composed 
of gneiss and slate, generally much contorted, and 
there were enormous accumulations of boulders at the 
openings of all the side valleys. Where we en- 
camped, the main valley was about a mile wide, and 
there was quite a forest of Myricaria bu.«:hes and 
plenty of good grass. 
