MY CARAVAN 
957 
other; and how Dutreuil de Rhins s caravan was decimated, 
and finally, after the attack at Tam Buddha, completely dis- 
organized and scattered. I hese tales caused the other 
men to take alarm, and they began to think they might 
consider themselves lucky if they got through the perilous 
journey with their lives. 
The spot beside the Mitt where we encamped was called 
by the Taghliks Laika or “ the Clayey,” and rightly so, for 
the river had there laid down wide-spreading deposits of 
soft miry clay. The Mountaineers were familiar with the 
country for about one day s journey beyond that point, 
and gave me the names of a few of the more conspicuous 
geographical features, but farther than that they do not 
\mnture towards the south. They told me that the trans- 
verse gorge, in which the M itt pierces through the range 
which we crossed by the pass of Sarik-kol, is very deep and 
narrow, and quite impassable at all seasons of the year. It 
is, they said, choked with huge fragments of rock, which 
have crashed down the precipitous mountain-walls that shut 
it in, and amongst them the river foams violently along, 
almost filling the space from side to side. Farther to the 
west there was another pass, P elazlik, which led to the 
upper Kok-muran, and to a district abundantly supplied 
with yeylaks, hence for that reason called Chimlik. 
Higher up the valley of the Mitt there were kans 
or gold-mines, which however do not go deeper than the 
stature of a man. At that time there were gold-prospectors 
from Keriya working there. Fortune had not favoured 
them at Kopa, and ten days before they had moved on to 
the Mitt valley in the hope of better luck. They proposed 
to remain there a month longer. These prospectors visit 
the Mitt valley every year, but cannot work more 
than about six weeks in all, partly because they are 
unable to carry provisions with them to last a longer 
time, and partly because the ground begins^ to freeze 
early in September, and remains frozen right away 
till the beginning of the following June. The gold is 
obtained by washing in a rocker ; but the yield does not 
seem to be very satisfactory, for the output only averaged 
