CHAPTER XXXIV. 
RETURN TO KASHGAR 
N October gth we marched to the aul of Tuya-kuyruk 
(12,740 feet), and the next day continued up the 
valley of the Ike-bel-su, whose volume was now reduced to 
70 or 80 cubic feet in the second, very different from the 
foaming river we saw during the summer. Upon reaching 
the enormous and imposing glacier of Kok-sel we struck 
off to the left, pursuing a zigzag course up the steep slopes 
on the right side of the valley, which consisted partly of 
solid gneiss and partly of fragments of rock fallen from 
the heights above. That evening we reached the aul of 
Tur-bulung, the inhabitants of which were on the point 
of changing their quarters to the Little Kara-kul ; for the 
winters are extremely raw and severe at Tur-bulung, and 
snowstorms of daily occurrence. Wolves, foxes, and bears 
were common in the same locality. 
The night we stopped at the aul, the night of the nth 
October, there was an unusually high wind, and the 
Kirghiz continually lighted torches and held them up to 
the smoke-vent, crying '^Allahti akhbar ! ” in order to ward 
off the wind. Every time an extra violent gust came, 
they all leapt up and laid hold of the tent, although it 
was already well secured with ropes and stones. All the 
same, we managed to make an excursion to the Kara- 
yilga, where the luxuriant pasture attracted numbers of 
wild goats and arkharis or wild sheep (Ovis Poll). Islam 
Bai shot one of the latter on a glacier ; but unfortunately 
the animal fell down a crevasse and could not be got 
up again. 
On the 1 2th we rode across the Merkeh-bel pass, of 
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