THE GORGE OF TENGHI-TAR 
259 
with a current only half the volume of that in the 
Tazgun valley. The glen of Keng-kol (the Broad Glen) 
did indeed contract as we advanced ; yet not so much 
but that there was space for several small meadows and 
pasture-grounds, frequented in summer by the Kipchak 
Kirghiz, who spend the winter lower down near the 
entrance to the valley. There were still a few isolated 
poplar trees to be seen, for the vegetation was by no 
means meagre. The cliffs on each side of the glen 
consisted of syenite, porphyry, and black clay-slates, 
very much weathered, so much so indeed that in many 
places the bottom of the glen was completely covered 
by their ddbris. Otherwise the surface was soft soil. 
At the aul of Keng-kol (11,000 feet) we were hospitably 
received by the aksakal (white-beard, i.e. chieftain) of the 
place, Abdu Mohammed, who gave up to me a portion 
of his own large yurt. We were detained at that place 
all day long on the 29th June by violent showers of rain. 
The aul (tent-village) numbered twenty-one inhabitants, 
who spend there the three summer months of every 
year. Every evening the sheep and goats are driven 
to the aul to be milked ; and are then shut up for the 
night in large fenced-in folds, guarded by fierce, long- 
haired dogs, to protect them from the wolves, which 
abound in that district. Whenever the dogs bark during 
the night, a man hurries out towards the point where 
danger threatens, and by loud shouts endeavours to 
ftighten the wolves away. 
About noon a troop of men and women, dressed in 
holiday attire, came to the aul. They were on their 
way to the funeral of a boy in another aul lower down 
the valley. But some of them thought they would have 
tt pleasanter time of it with us ; and therefore stayed 
behind when their companions continued their journey. 
The company in my host’s yurt was thus augmented by 
^ dozen men, eight women, and seven children ; and yet 
*t Was so roomy, that we were not at all crowded. They 
Were a lively set of people too, as a single picture will 
show. One man played the dutara (a two-stringed in- 
