THE GLACIERS OF MUS-TAGH-ATA 333 
was cut off in every direction by a deep crevasse, a dozen 
feet wide and forty-five in depth. Its sides were a deep 
blue, and from them hung long Icicles. 
On August 3rd we started on a new excursion, namely, 
back again to the Yam-bulak glacier, to put in rods, by 
which, after a certain time had elapsed, we could tell at 
what rate the ice was moving. It was by no means easy 
to find a stick long enough for this purpose, for there was 
not a tree or a bush to be found In the whole of the 
Sarik-kol valley, except half-a-dozen stunted birches at 
Kayindeh-masar, which, of course, could not be touched, 
as they were growing on holy ground. At length Yehim 
BUILDING A KIRGHIZ YURT 
Bai succeeded in finding a bundle of oks, or poles used 
to support the dome-shaped roof of the yurt. 
Equipped with these, we succeeded in getting nearly 
580 yards across the ice, and putting in nine poles, some 
in small moraine-ridges, others in the Ice itself, and their 
position was marked on a map drawn to the scale of 
1:4480. It would have been better to have placed them 
in a straight line across the glacier ; but this was im- 
practicable, as the whole of the left side was absolutely 
inaccessible, and formed a projecting hump as compared 
with the right side. This is because the left half of the 
glacier is completely shaded by the mountain crests to the 
south of it during its entire passage between the enclosing 
walls of rock. Not a ray of sunshine, therefore, reaches 
