130 
THROUGH ASIA 
fact that the water from the snows, which are melted by the 
sun during the day, does not get down to the valley before 
darkness sets in. The flood begins to rise at about eight 
o’clock in the evening. At six in the morning it begins 
to fall again. It reaches its lowest level at eight, and 
maintains the same level all day long. In March, when I 
saw it, the water was as bright and as clear as crystal. But 
during the summer it is tinged a brick-red colour by the 
sands and clays it passes through in its upper course. It 
is from this circumstance it gets its name of Kizil-su, which 
means the Red River. A similar circumstance has given 
the same name to its neighbour over on the other side of 
the mountains, namely the stream which flows from the 
Terek-davan pass eastwards to Kashgar and Lop- nor. 
In the northern, middle, and eastern districts of the 
Pamirs — the districts through which my route ran — the 
downfall of snow is very unevenly distributed. Three 
sharply separated zones, dependent upon the configuration 
of the surface, may be distinguished, (i.) In the north, 
the valley of the Alai, which becomes filled every winter 
with enormous masses of snow, (ii.) In the east, the 
region of Sarik-kol, which receives a very much less 
quantity of snow. (iii.) Lying between these two, the 
tracts around the lakes Kara-kul and Rang-kul, neither 
of which has any outflow ; there the snowfall is almost 
insignificant. It may be assumed, that as a general rule 
the moisture-laden winds, which blow towards the lofty 
plateau of the Pamirs, discharge the greater portion of 
their precipitation upon the border-ranges, before they 
reach the central parts of the region. In these tracts it 
is only in sheltered spots, where the force of the wind is 
broken, for example, close to and around the passes, that 
any great quantity of snow falls. In all other places the 
thin, dry snow is quickly swept away by the wind. 
One immediate consequence of the unequal geographical 
distribution of the snowfall is the unequal distribution, as 
well as the unequal size, of the rivers and glaciers. Both 
occur only in those regions where there is a plentiful snow- 
fall. In the central parts of the plateau they are few and 
