LITTLE KARA-KUL LAKE 
299 
sometimes narrow and foaming, sometimes calm and broad, 
with grass -grown banks, on which were two or three 
Kirghiz auls. 
“When we again returned to camp over another part of 
the moraine-ridge, we found that the Kirghiz had procured 
another big yurt ; and in it my men settled down with the 
kitchen paraphernalia. 
“ Immediately south-east of the camp there was a 
dominant mountain of black schist, called Kara-kir (the 
Black Peaks) ; and, as it seemed to promise a splendid 
point of vantage for surveying the neighbouring country, 
I wished to ascend it as early as possible, which we did 
on July 15th. 
“ The panorama which unfolded itself to my view when 
we reached the top exceeded my most sanguine expecta- 
tions. The long moraine - ridge, with its labyrinth of 
cones and grit - mounds, appeared from that elevated 
point of view to dwindle to insignificance, and the 
green-banked ribbon of the Ike-bel-su winding through 
the grey scenery formed a particularly marked feature 
in the landscape. But the sublime grandeur of the 
Mus-tagh-ata, whose white crests were visible between 
the clouds, completely dwarfed everything else. Fantastic, 
inky-black rocks broke up through the expanses of snow, 
some attaining an altitude of 20,000 feet ; and above 
them again towered the spotless dome. The east side 
of the mountain was so precipitous and irregular, that 
I perceived at once, from its shape, it must be quite 
inaccessible. The northern versant presented a confused 
medley of rocks, snow-fields, and glaciers. On the other 
hand, the western declivities were particularly even and 
rounded, towards the summit the angle being only twenty- 
two degrees ; while on the east side the inclination varied 
from thirty to forty-eight degrees. 
“ The Tegherman-tash-su (the Millstone Brook), which 
fell into the Ike-bel-su, was divided at its mouth into five 
arms, flowing over a talus slope or sort of sloping delta, 
partly formed by its own glacial debris and mud. 
“ In the south-west we saw the broad, level valley of 
