in general, when approached, they lie very close among
the crevices of the stones.
Before finally leaving Iskardo, I devoted three days
to a visit to the valley of Shigar, which is watered by
a very large tributary which joins the Indus opposite
the rock of Iskardo. The terminal ridges of the mountain
ranges on both sides of the Shigar river, advance
close to the centre of the valley where the stream
enters the Indus. The. road to Shigar from Iskardo,
therefore, crosses low hills of dark schistose rocks,
winding among dry valleys which are occupied by
great masses of alluvium. A coarse sandstone, horizontally
stratified, formed beds of fifty feet thick, alternating
with and capped by beds of clay conglomerate
containing numerous angular fragments. The sandstone
was very similar to that which I had previously seen on
the top of the rock of Iskardo, and rested upon thinner
strata of a bluish-grey indurated clay, quite non-fossi-
liferous, and different in appearance from any deposit
which I had seen in Tibet. These lacustrine strata
occupied both sides of the valley along which the road
lay. From the summit of the low range of hills, the
road descended rapidly to the level of the cultivation of
the Shigar plain. The Shigar river flows through a wide
gravelly channel in many branches; and low, grassy,
and swampy tracts skirt the stream. Fifty feet above
these are the platforms of alluvium, which extend along
the left bank of the river uninterruptedly for five or six
miles, and vary in width from a quarter of a mile to a mile
or more. They are almost entirely covered with arable
land, formed into terraces which rise gradually one above
another, and a succession of small villages are scattered
among the fields. Numerous little streams descend
from the mountains, and irrigation canals ramify in
every direction. Ploughing was the universal occupation
of the villagers • and the yellow flowers of Tussilago
Farfara were everywhere seen expanding on the clayey
banks of the rivulets.
The fort of Shigar is close to the mountains on the east
side of the valley, where a considerable stream makes
’ its exit from them. By this stream, Mr. Vigne ascended
to a pass on the high range to the eastward, and descended
upon the Shayuk at the village of Braghar.
Where it terminates in the Shigar plain, this valley is
for a few hundred yards very narrow ; but a little above
its entrance it widens considerably, and the flanks of
the mountains are covered with a great accumulation of
the alluvial deposits, clinging to the face of the rocks
on both sides, certainly as high as a thousand feet above
the stream. The beds were sometimes, but rarely, stratified,
and were very variable in appearance. Coarse
conglomerates, at one time with angular boulders, at
others, with rounded stones, alternated with coarse and
fine sand and finely laminated clays. No fossils of any
kind were observed.
In summer, the discharge of the Shigar river, which
descends from the snowy masses of the Muztagh or
Kouen-lun, must be immense, as prodigious glaciers
descend very low among the valleys of its different
branches. Up one of the streams a practicable road
exists towards Yarkand over an enormous glacier. I
met with one or two people at Iskardo who had tra