Next our caravan climbed to a highland of eternal cold.  Here grows neither trees nor grass and all the fodder must be carried or the draught animals go hungry.  Firewood must be carried too, though the mountain people dry and burn animal dung.  Due to the terrible cold fires burn but dimly and food cooks poorly.  For ten days we cross this difficult land.  If the traveler moved too fast a pounding arose in the skull and sickness of the stomach.  At night howling demons arouse.  The Chinese who live at the east end of the world call these the Tien Shan, the Mountains of Heaven, but our guides said that the true name is the Roof of the World.

Even in this remote land there are occasional caravan inns—caravansary.  One of the best is in a remote gorge at a high place called Tash-Rabat.  Here the traveler will see a massive stone gate and flanking towers with apparently nothing beyond—but this appearance is but a trick.  The caravansary is built into a sloping hill.  The back walls and roof are covered with grass and hidden.  A domed ceiling spans the main room.  It is connected to the portal and to galleries 170 yards long to both the left and right, leading to many small chambers for the traveler.  The rooms could not be more safe and secure.

The main hall was full of warmth and bustle the evening we stayed there.  A fire was built below the opening in the dome and mutton and horseflesh cooked there.  We drank that strange sour milk called koumiss and traded stories as best we could understand each other’s tongues.   A band of Turki traders sang a kind of high pitched song and performed a sinuous dance wearing silk tunics with sleeves a yard longer than their hands.

Beyond the mountains is the region of Kasgar, a kingdom in former days but now subject to the Great Khan.  The region is full of gardens and vineyard and they grow great amounts of cotton.  It is truly an oasis city.  From this country merchants go fourth to all lands to trade.

Beyond Kashgar is the most terrible desert in the world.  It goes on for a great distance taking maybe thirty days to cross.  Nothing lives here and there is nothing to eat is found in it.  Spirits are heard calling the traveler and leading them astray.  The region can only be crossed along its margin where rivers flow out of the bounding mountains into the desert.  Here they soon vanish into the sand.   The desert is called Takli-Makan, which means “things go in, but don’t come out”.

--Peotr