962 
THROUGH ASIA 
men in charge of the horse- caravan, which preceded us, 
had seen a troop of about a score of khulans when they 
passed the same place. Islam Bai sent a shot after them ; 
but one of the animals was cut off from the rest of the 
troop, and followed on behind the caravan. 
The .soft ground of the west side of the valley was 
grooved by a number of chapps or ravines. The east 
side was shut in by a mountain-spur of more solid con- 
sistency. This we crossed at its lower extremity by the 
little secondary pass of Kum-boyan (the Sand Pass), on 
the top of which was a cairn of stones built by the 
Taghliks. On the south of Kum-boyan we first passed 
the end of a side-glen, and then reached the upper valley 
of the Kara-muran, which flowed in a broad sai towards 
the north-west, and further down received from the east 
the stream that came from the Chokkalik-davan (pass). 
A three-legged dog, which came with the Taghliks, was 
unable to go further than the foot of Kum-boyan, and 
as we rode away from him, his melancholy howls echoed 
with anything but a cheerful sound against the bare rocky 
walls. 
It was quite dark when we reached the tent, which 
Islam Bai had pitched beneath a precipitous rock close 
beside the Kara-muran, now shrunk to an insignificant 
stream. There was not a blade of grass to give the 
animals ; we had to feed them with maize and barley. 
The steep cliff was lit up by the ruddy reflection of the 
brightly blazing fires, the fuel being hard, namely dry 
yappkak plants collected during the march. All the men 
(except myself) had a headache and were drowsy after their 
long ride. Islam Bai and Fong Shi suffered terribly from 
mountain-sickness and were obliged to turn in at once. 
It was midnight before I had finished my day’s work ; the 
plotting of the day’s march occupied five pages. 
The night was perfectly still, but cold (minimum tempera- 
ture 36°3 Fahr. or 2°4 C.) ; although not cold enough to 
pierce through our furs and felts. 
Early in the morning a violent gale set in from the west, 
which, owing to the conformation of the rocks in the neigh- 
