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THROUGH ASIA 
a gigantic quadrilateral, embracing within its confines 
surface configurations and types of scenery of the most 
diverse description. 
On the Pamirs, as in other parts of the world, the 
boundaries of different climatic regions are determined by 
the outstanding physical features. Over the central areas 
of the region the amount of snowfall is exceedingly small ; 
but the cold is intense, the night temperatures being below 
freezing-point all the year round, with the exception of 
a couple of weeks in the middle of summer. In the 
Alai valley, on the contrary, the climate is relatively 
milder, but at the same time the snowfall is enormous. 
Even in the valley of Sarik-kol the quantity of snow 
which falls every year is by no means inconsiderable. 
It follows therefore, as a direct consequence of the 
unequal distribution of the snowfall, that the rivers of 
the Pamirs carry down very unequal quantities of the 
drainage- water. For instance, at the time of my journey 
the Kizil-su had a volume nearly four times as great as 
the Murghab (or Ak-su), the chief head-stream of the 
Amu-daria ; besides, the measurement of the latter was 
taken a month later than the measurement of the former. 
The volume of the Kizil-su was 950 cubic feet in 
the second ; the volume of the Murghab only 250 cubic 
feet. 
The ethnological and linguistic divisions of the Pamirs 
coincide pretty accurately with the physical divisions. 
The population of the plateau proper are almost entirely 
Kirghiz, relatively few in number. Further west, the 
Peripheral districts of Darvaz, Roshan, and Shugnan are 
inhabited almost exclusively by Tajiks, and the population 
there is relatively much denser. Nor is this a merely 
accidental difference. The Kirghiz are nomads. Their 
wealth consists of flocks of sheep, yaks, camels. As the 
seasons change, they move from one pasture-ground to 
another. Hence they naturally prefer the level stretches 
of the plateau to the deep, narrow glens and steep moun- 
tain-sides of the Peripheral regions. The Tajiks, on the 
other hand, are a settled population, their conditions of 
