On the 27th of August, we took leave of the vale of the Zarafshan so similar in many respects to that of Hunza. It would be a delightful place to live in and second to none as a health resort for the European population of Turkestan. With a scenery sometimes verging on the sensational it offers fresh air, good water, shady gardens and many opportunities for vigorous exercise, and fair sport may even be had among the mountains.

The ravine to the Pakshif pass is comparatively short and steep. On the right slopes we saw an enormous mudspate divided into many branches. Some of these had frayed out gradually into the most delicate of welted furrows sketched on hard turf with the last and finest of sediment. Framed in the shoulders of the outgoing valley Yangi-sabak reared its massive head above the Turkestan range. The Russian map gives it a height of 20,000 feet. All loads had to be carried for the last 200 feet of vertical height separating us from the top of the pass which proved most difficult at this time of the year, so much of the snow having withdrawn from the saddle. How the horses ever got across, even barebacked, still remains a mystery to me. Very steep neve” and a staircase cut into clear ice were bad enough, but then came a traverse over a rock slab, where the animals had to place their feet on a tiny ledge offering brief support for a spring of about two yards.