THE GORGE OF TENGHI-TAR 
273 
very cold in that glen ; and whilst the head-feeders of the 
stream remain frozen, which they usually do for two or 
three months, the stream itself dries up, Snow falls 
during five months in the year; but seldom lies more 
than knee-deep. The rainy season properly so-called 
begins in the middle of May; there is rainfall also in 
the summer and autumn. 
The 5 th July was one of our heavy days ; we crossed 
over the main chain of the Mus-tagh system. The night 
before was still and sparkling bright. The thermom^er 
dropped below freezing-point ; and even at a late hour in 
the morning the edges of the brooks and pools of stagnant 
water were fringed with ice. 1 he upper extremity of the 
glen widened out more and more. The mountains which 
fenced it in, outliers of the principal crests we had on both 
sides of us, grew flatter and flatter. The gneiss rarely 
cropped out in continuous masses. The little brooks came 
ripphng down the glens on both sides of the valley one 
after the other, as though emerging from the side-wings 
of a stage. The valley-stream, being at this point nearer 
Its sources, attained its greatest volume about noon, and 
Its waters were not yet muddy. As we passed several 
o these small side-glens, we saw at their upper ends 
the main mountain-ranges clothed with glittering mantles 
of snow. 1 he only places immediately overlooking the 
't^alley itself on which snow still remained were the slopes 
which faced north, north-east, and north-west. The floor 
of the valley was in great part a carpet of luxuriant 
herbage, on which several herds of yaks were grazino-. 
^tid in part was littered with ddbris and fragments of rock 
Rom the mountains above. 
A short time afterwards we came to an oval cauldron- 
s laped valley or cirque, surrounded by a ring of mountains 
partly covered with snow. Immediately ahead of us rose 
a ridge of considerable altitude ; and soon, to the nortii, 
We perceived the pass of Yanghi-davan (the New Pass),’ 
lie leads to Yam-bulak, but is only used when the 
^ enghi-tar route is impassable. In the middle of that 
pen, dish-shaped valley lay two small lakes, each about 
1.-18 
