262 
THROUGH ASIA 
slates ; the bottom littered with huge masses of conglomer- 
ate, consisting of broken schists and white coarse-grained 
syenite, embedded in yellow soil and sand, through which the 
torrent had carved out a deep channel for itself. Rushes 
and grass grew between the blocks of syenite. Another 
rivulet came down a side-glen, Borumsal, greatly quicken- 
ing the vivacity of the Ter-art. Eventually the glen 
widened out ; but after it did so, became every now and 
again almost blocked by terraced ridges of conglomerate 
several hundred feet thick. About three o’clock in the 
afternoon the south-west wind brought up a slight mist ; 
this gradually thickened, and towards evening changed into 
a drizzling rain, which searched through everything, so that 
we were glad to find shelter in the aul of Pasrabat (the 
Low-lying Station), a place of three yurts, 9460 feet 
above sea-level, inhabited by thirteen Kessek Kirghiz. 
But although so small, Pasrabat is so far important, that 
it lies on the road connecting Kashgar, Yanghi-hissai , and 
Yarkand with Tash-kurgan, the principal Chinese strong- 
hold in the Eastern Pamirs. For this reason it boasts of 
a small fort. The stream of Pasrabat runs into the 
Taahdumbash-su, which in its turn becomes an affluent 
of the Yarkand -daria. 
Several times during the night I was awakened by 
the rain, which beat with a loud pattering upon the roof 
of the tent, and occasionally came through upon me, 
sprinkling me all over. The next morning the neigh- 
bouring glens were again shrouded in thick mist. As 
soon as I got up, I had an animated discussion with the 
Kirghiz, as to whether we should go on or stay^ where 
we were. They advised me to push on, being afraid that, 
if the rain continued, though only one day longer, the 
mountain-torrents would rise so high as to be impass- 
able. But my karakesh (owner of horses) was of opinion, 
that the day was already too far advanced ; we should not 
cet to the biggest stream we had to cross between Pasrabat 
and our next station until after dark. Accordingly we 
decided to remain where we were. 
This gave me an opportunity to take certain obser- 
