128 
THROUGH ASIA 
(tent-village) of Daraut-kurgan, consisting of about a score 
of tents (households) under the authority of the hospitable 
chieftain, Tash Mohammed Emin. 
The origin and meaning of the name Daraut-kurgan are 
differently explained by different Kirghiz. Some maintain 
that it is composed of three words darah, and kiirgan, 
the first common to both Persian and Kirghiz, and mean- 
ing “valley,” the other two both Kirghiz words meaning 
“grass” and “stronghold” or “fort” respectively. Others 
declare that the name is a corruption of the Persian 
dar-rati, meaning “immediate” or “make haste on the 
road ” ; and go on to explain, that Daraut-kurgan is 
intended to warn the traveller to make haste and get 
through the dreaded pass as quickly as he can. 
To add to our difficulties, it began to blow a gale from 
the west. The snow still continued to fall, and the mist 
did not lift. The Kirghiz said that a violent snow.storm 
was raging up in the Tenghiz-bai pass ; we might thank 
our stars we had got through it in time. And indeed it 
was a stroke of fortune to escape in the way we did. A 
day earlier and we might have been crushed under the 
avalanche ; a day later and we might have been annihilated 
by the buran (snow-hurricane). 
