128 
EXPLORATIONS IN TURKESTAN. 
the Kirjjhiz, with their vast herds and flocks, are pouring over the passes on to the 
rich pasture. There are no trees, no bushes, nothing but a world of grass sprinkled 
with beautiful wild flowers. 
It is said that Mount Kaufnianu is rarely free from its canopy of clouds, but we 
had a fine view of it during our first stay in the valle}-. From over the spur at 
Sari Ta.sh it came in sight, a long ma.ss of ridges and amphitheaters rising in 
groups one above the other, and above them great snow-fields mantling the cliffs. 
Here and there we could see a glacier starting in a group of cirques below the top, 
and pouring forth its snake-like river of ice to the very edge of the plain. It was 
a grand siglit, this gigantic complex of ridges and snow-banks rising to the top 
Fig. 88.— The Kirghiz in the Alai Valley. 
peak of all, an ice-capped pyramid so high that it creates the clouds and directs the 
storms. For a long time we saw the clouds, blowing up from the northwest, split 
on Mount Kaufmann, part turning back to the northeast, collecting on the Alai 
range behind us, while the rest formed a horizontal stratum floating just below the 
high peaks of Mount Kaufmann and disappearing southwest over the Pamir. 
By the end of the afternoon it began to thunder and hail on our side of 
the valley, but during the whole storm the sun shone brightl)- on the Trans-Alai 
Mountains, and we could see them sparkling through the hail. Temperature at 
7 p. m., 39° F. 
On Jid}- 6 our caravan crossed to Bor Daba, on the south side of the Alai 
Valley, and camped there over night. When we arose at 5 a. m. on the 7th it was 
35° F., and the stream was sheeted over with ice. The sky was clear, the mountains 
