CHAPTER LXXIX. 
SEARCHING FOR A PASS 
U GUST 15th. Happily Islam Bai was so much 
better that we were able to start at the usual time ; 
though one of the sick horses died, and was left behind 
as a memorial of our visit. It was the first that perished, 
and alas ! was to be followed by too many of the others. 
The sky was flecked with fleecy clouds, which brushed 
against the tops of the mountains, imparting a flattened 
appearance to the landscape. The “ roof seemed to be 
so low ” in the east that you felt as though you could not 
walk upright under the clouds. 
We continued to follow the broad and regular longi- 
tudinal valley which ran along the northern foot of the 
Arka-tagh. It was almost level, or had at any rate an 
almost imperceptible slope. The white double peak 
gleamed like a beacon at its eastern extremity. The 
Arka-tagh on our right was hidden by its own outlying 
ranges. On our left too there was now a lofty chain, 
though free from snow. The longitudinal valley was 
crossed by a deeply incised transverse gorge, filled with 
conglomerates, through which a mountain - brook had 
carved a deep channel, now containing a little water. Its 
sides were a reddish colour, from a brick-red, slaty species 
of rock, but its bottom was tightly packed with fine gravel 
of green crystalline slates, granite, and porphyry, probably 
rocks which prevail in the higher regions of the Arka- 
tagh. This gigantic trough, which caught up several 
little streams on its way across the longitudinal valley, 
cut through the mountain-chain on the north (which now 
completely hid the Tokkuz - davan) by an extremely 
