AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 707 
broad expansion of the valley till we came to the point 
^vhere it bifurcated into the two secondary valleys of 
Lengher and Shuydun. A road through the former led 
the large Tajik village of Marian, and thence to the 
Raskan-daria {i.e. the upper Yarkand-daria). Through 
tbe latter ran the road we took. Crossing the luxuriant 
pastures, we reached at length a rabat (rest-house or inn) 
at the foot of the Kandahar pass, and there we spent the 
night. 
The next morning we awoke to a perfect winter scene. 
During the night it had snowed heavily, and the ground 
'''^as covered a couple of inches deep. F rom the rabat 
•^be path ascended the mountain-side pretty steeply; but 
the snow levelled up the spaces between the stones and 
made it easier going. The summit or ridge of the pass 
(ib,6io feet altitude) was as sharp as a knife; for the 
broken edges of the green clay-slates jutted out almost 
Vertically. The descent on the other side was very 
difficult, so difficult in fact that the horses would 
scarcely have been able to get down loaded. But, 
having been warned of this beforehand, we had hired 
a party of Tajiks with three yaks, and with their help 
got the boxes safely down. At the outset the path 
'Vent straight down between nasty projecting buttresses 
rock ; down these we simply slid long distances 
l^ver the deep snow. But lower down the descent was 
precipitous. The quantity of snow on the ground 
Was everywhere much less than on the western versant 
the pass. The sky, which was clear in the morning 
to start with, clouded over again, and it snowed hard 
the way to the little rabat of Kotchkor-Beg-Bai, in 
the bottom of the confined valley of Kandahar. Two 
three Tajik families dwelt in the neighbourhood. 
During the summer and autumn the flocks graze on 
both sides of the pass ; but for the winter they move down 
to the district of Tong, whither we now directed our steps. 
winter too the pass of Kandahar is generally preferred, 
' only it is at all practicable. As a rule, it is deep y 
horied in snow, and the Tajiks trample down a path by 
