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blocks of gneiss, proving that glacial action was once far 
more prevalent in this region than it is at the present 
time. 
In the middle of the plain, at a place called Gedyack 
(the Violin), there was a picturesque tu, that is a mound 
of stones, with a branch of a birch-tree fixed in it and hung 
round with the skulls and horns of wild sheep and tekkes 
(wild goats), the tails of horses and yaks, pieces of white 
rag, and other religious offerings of the Kirghiz. Several 
smaller birch poles were stuck into the stone-heap round 
about the larger one; and the whole vicinity was littered 
with horses’ and antelopes’ skulls. Immediately in front 
of the mound was a fair-sized block of gneiss which had 
been hollowed out by water or ice. The cavity was black 
with smoke; and the explanation given me was, that 
pilgrims were in the habit of leaving in it offerings of 
lighted candles or oil lamps, when they came to the tu 
to repeat their prayers. In that same spot too a little 
side-glen, called Kayindeh-masar (the Holy Tomb of the 
Birch), opened upon the plain from the west. The name 
is derived from the burial-place of an important saint, 
situated in the middle of a little grove of birch trees. It 
is also one of the principal burial-places of the Kirghiz ; 
a legend running to the effect that it was the resting-place 
of the hero Khan Khoja in one of his warlike excursions. 
The tu has been built in the middle of the public road, 
as an intimation that there is a burial-place in the vicinity ; 
also as a sign that the great saints’ masar of Mus-tagh-ata 
rears aloft its snow-white head immediately above it. 
Away to the right we now saw for the first time several 
of the glaciers with which we were to become more 
intimately acquainted during the course of the summer. 
On 8th July there remained but one days march 
between us and Su-bashi, our first goal. After that we 
proposed to surmount the easy pass of Ullug-rabat (the 
Large Station), which divides the valley of the Sarik-kol 
into two portions, a northern which sends off its drainage 
waters to the Ghez and a southern which drains into the 
Yarkand-daria. It was a splendid day. The mountain- 
