OVER THE TENGHIZ-BAI PASS 12 1 
On the night of 26th February I sent eight Kirghiz 
on in advance into the pass with spades, pickaxes, and 
hatchets to hew a road for the horses. The caravan 
followed up after them early the next morning. The first 
difficult place we came to was at Kara-kiya. There we 
found the Kirghiz hard at work hewing steps — actual 
steps — in the ice. For the last fall of snow, which lay 
on the surface, had melted during the day, and then 
frozen during the following night. 
The mountain horses or ponies of the Kirghiz are truly 
wonderful little animals. Their ordinary load is usually 
about thirteen stone {180 lbs.). With this load on their 
backs they are able to slide great distances down the 
mountain slopes. They climb like cats up the steep 
declivities ; and although the narrow, slippery mountain- 
paths are generally coated with ice, and run along the 
edge of precipices, the}'’ balance themselves on them 
with almost inconceivable sureness of foot. The name 
Kara-kiya, meaning the Black Gorge, is a very appro- 
priate name for the place. It is a narrow tunnel or pass 
shut in by perpendicular walls of rock, and shrouded in 
the deepest shadows. Into those cavernous depths no 
ray of sunshine ever penetrates. At this spot the Isfairan 
was spanned by two bridges. Underneath the upper 
one the torrent plunged with the force and noise of a 
thundering cascade. In this region the hand of Nature 
has worked with sublime effect. Landscapes alternately 
wild, awe-inspiring, and full of romantic charm followed 
one another in quick succession. I'he eye commanded 
a truly wonderful perspective both up and down the glen. 
Above the bridge of Haidar-beg the valley bore the 
name of Chettindeh, and the stream was spanned by four 
small wooden bridges. The last of these was a miserable 
contrivance. Its supports were so rotten that my men 
were in a state of the greatest anxiety, as they carefully 
led the horses across it one by one. A short distance 
further on the glen was completely choked by a newly 
fallen kutshka (avalanche or snow-slide), which blocked 
both stream and path. The former came boiling from 
