CHAPTER XI. 
OVER THE TRANS-ALAI. 
I T was eleven o’clock in the day when we got started on 
the 7th March. We were all exhausted by the toil- 
some march of the previous day, and it was late when we 
turned in. Everybody therefore was glad to wait till tlie 
sun warmed the air before we set off again. Our Kirghiz 
guides led us through a series of low hills close alongside 
the Kara-su. This river gets its name of the Black Water 
from the circumstance that it has its origin, not in the 
snows of this highland region, but in natural springs ; 
besides which, its water was so clear that in its deeper 
reaches it appeared to be almost black. We crossed over 
the stream two or three times on the brittle ice crust which 
spanned it from side to side. Underneath us we could 
hear the water gurgling and gulping with a clear metallic 
sound. There were not above two or three places where 
we could see the river flowing unhindered between the 
stones with which its bed was encumbered. 
The snowdrifts grew deeper and deeper ; so that the 
caravan could only make its way through them at a pain- 
fully slow pace. Towards the east we could see the 
termination of the Alai valley, where the offshoots of the 
Alai and the Trans- Alai Mountains met together above a 
trough -shaped depression. The outlines of the latter 
chain now stood out in sharper relief, and its crest flashed 
back the dazzling coruscations of light which played about 
its snow-mantled shoulders. The chief tints were white 
and blue ; and far, far above it sparkled the pure turquoise 
blue of the Asiatic sky. White gossamer clouds like bridal 
veils hovered about the summit of Kaufmann Peak and the 
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