140 
THROUGH ASIA 
like silver in the sunshine,- and appeared to be overtopped 
by scarce any of its neighbours. 
We waited some time for a band of Kirghiz, who, it 
had been arranged, should come to meet us from 
Archa-bulak and clear a track for us through the snow. 
But after waiting some time and seeing nothing of them, 
our friend Emin, chief of the Kara-teppes, rode on in 
advance to see what had become of them, as well as to 
reconnoitre the ground. I confess it was not an en- 
couraging sight to see his horse floundering through the 
snowdrifts, his flanks decorated with fringes of rime, 
whilst the breath gushed from his nostrils like light puffs 
OUR HORSES ENDEAVOURING TO FIND GRASS IN THE SNOW 
of Steam. For an hour and a half we watched him 
creeping like a black speck across the endless sea of 
white snows. Most of the time nothing was visible 
except the rider and the horse’s head. 
After an absence of a couple of hours Jan Ali Emin 
returned, and reported that it was impossible to advance 
further ; the snow was many feet deep, and his horse 
had been down several times. We held a consultation, 
as the outcome of which Emin and Rehim Bai rode over 
to the aul of Jipptik to beg assistance. The rest of 
us stayed behind in camp, literally snowed up on every 
side. At length, after some further waiting, we perceived 
a long string of horses and camels approaching from the 
north, the direction of the foot-hills of the Alai. They 
