File:Ruins of desert Cathay - personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China (1912) (14783091285).jpg

Identifier: ruinsofdesertcat01stei (find matches)
Title: Ruins of desert Cathay : personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Stein, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943 Archaeological Survey of India
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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11.30 p.m. I was up again to start thenext days work, and after a hasty * Chota Hazri whichmy cook was determined to treat as a supper, I wasready to set my detachments in motion. Thanks to theprevious evenings arrangements all men were quickly attheir loads, and the moon shone just long enough tomake it easy to keep the detachments apart. Shortlyafter i a.m. I set out with the first party of twenty men,trusty Muhammadju looking after those in the rear. Bythe movement of the lanterns behind I could see thatNaik Ram Singh started the second detachment withmilitary punctuality, followed by the Surveyors party afteranother fifteen minutes interval. Close above Gujar thevalley bottom completely disappeared under snow. Howdeeply it lay was clear from the fact that no sound of thestreams flowing beneath this continuous slope of snowbridges ever reached me. Huge avalanches had sweptdown at intervals from the steep spurs and gorges oneither side for months past, leaving their tracks marked by
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o H c/; W) O PL. t ^ ^ < o Vh o o o t: o « o \^ c w, rt ro c < kS Ph K,^ al I—1 a < <H-. ^ o rf l^ H) J= h cH.iii ON THE SNOW-BURIED PASS 23 moraine-like banks of hard snow. For the sake of theload-carrying men steps were cut in these banks by thespare men ahead with me. The advance was very slowwork. But the time thus spent in ascending allowed meto realize how well the Lowarai deserves its evil reputation. The ascent throughout lay in a narrow gorge flankedby precipitous spurs which would send their gliding massesof snow right across to the opposite side (Fig. 7). Fromavalanches there was here no possible place of safety. Butthe time for the great spring avalanches had passed by,apparently a fortnight earlier, and from any falls of freshsnow we were protected by the bitter cold of the night,which had frozen the surface hard. When the first flushof dawn showed over the spurs eastward the narrowsaddle of the pass came in sight,

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