| Fig. 89.—The Shchurovskiy Glacier. |
| Scale 1 : 320,000. |
|
 6 Miles.
|
West of the Isfaïram and Kara-kazik Pass the Alaï rises gradually in a parallel line with some northern ridges traversed by the streams flowing to Ferghana. It is connected by spurs with these ridges, the whole constituting, north of the sources of the Zarafshan, a highland region rising 6,000 or 7,000 feet above the snow-line, and sending down mighty glaciers to the surrounding upland valleys. From the highest peak of these highlands, the culminating point of the Alaï proper, the Shchurovskiy glacier flows northwards, while from the slopes of the Khotur-tau and neighbouring mountains there descend numerous torrents and cascades, a phenomenon elsewhere as rare in the Central Asiatic highlands as on the slopes of the Caucasus. Here the forests, far inferior in beauty to those of Europe, are composed largely of the archa, a species of juniper (Juniperus pseudo-sabina), which flourishes at an elevation of 5,000 feet and upwards.
The Kara-tau, which forms a western continuation of the Alaï, maintains an altitude of over 13,000 feet to the south of Tashkend, beyond which it falls somewhat rapidly in the direction of Samarkand, while throwing off at a sharp angle another spur towards the north-west. The various sections of these mountains, which are interrupted by broad gaps, are known by different names, such as the Ura-tepe, the Julan or Sausar-tau, Kara-tau, and Nura-tau.
The parallel ridges running between the Alaï and Western Pamir have a greater mean altitude than the outer chain but they are divided by mountain torrents into a number of distinct fragments, nowhere forming any decided water-parting. Thus the Trans-Alaï is divided on the west of the Karateghin Mountains by the Ters-agar, whence flow two streams in opposite directions, northwards to the Tuz-altin-dara, a tributary of the Surgh-ab, southwards to the Muk-su. Farther west the Surgh-ab itself pierces the Karateghin range to effect a junction with the
