THE SPURS OF THE ARKA-TAGH 981 
thought might be the Pattkaklik (the Muddy), a tributary 
of the Cherchen-daria; and he believed it was by its 
upper extremity that Littledale reached the pass by which 
he crossed the Arka-tagh. Hamdan Bai ought to know, 
for he was one of Littledale’s company ; it subsequently 
proved however that he was wTong in his surmise. 
Parpi Bai believed we should come to plenty of grass 
in a fortnight. The miserable stuff at Camp No. V. was 
so bitter, that the horses would never have eaten it, had 
they not been driven to it by hunger. There were no 
traces of even khulans ; it was evident they knew of 
other and better pasture-grounds. 
Under these circumstances Parpi Bai voted for making 
a move as soon as possible ; for if we stayed there any 
longer, the horses would fall ill. Two of them were 
looking queer already ; they w'ould not eat, but lay quiet 
in one place all day long. The others however, as well 
as the donkeys and camels, were in good condition, con- 
sidering the hard marches we had made. We still had 
corn sufficient to last them thirty days, and provisions for 
ourselves for two months and a half. 
j j-j the evening 1 gave Islam Bai half a gram of morphia. 
He again got a good sleep, and next morning felt very 
much better. He succeeded in swallowing a little bread 
and tea, got up, and walked about a short time wrapped 
in furs. He hoped he should be able to follow us next 
day. The weather was disagreeable. Between twelve 
and four o’clock it hailed, and after that we had a smart 
shower of rain. Mffiilst it was hailing the temperature 
(four o’clock) was 6o°8 Fahr. (16° C.) ; but the rain 
brought it down to 48° 2 Fahr. (9° C.) in the course of a 
few minutes. The absolute altitude was 16,300 feet. 
Every evening just about sunset 1 had the pleasure 
of seeing the camels come forward to the tent, slowly, 
with rocking humps, solemn as judges, to get their daily 
measure of maize, which was poured out on a piece of 
sailcloth spread on the ground. Then they knelt down 
round it and ate up the corn ravenously ; but their meagre 
diet did not make them ill-tempered. 
