Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/142

122 ENGLAND AND EITSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. • city, but to within less than that distance from Tash- kurgan or Sirikul. ISTot only has the great Kara Kul been annexed, but the lesser Kara Kul and the Kan Kul could be absorbed to-morrow, provided such routes exist as those referred to. This is not the place to decide that point, nor should it be decided on slight evidence, or at the mere idle rumour that such ways exist. The heights of the surrounding region do not preclude their existence, and that is all that can be said. So far then as our information goes, the Terek pass is the only road open to Russia into Kashgar. From Kashgar to Yarkand is one hundred and twenty miles by an excellent road. Beyond Yarkand several routes would lie at the choice of an invading army, but of these only two would practically be available. The straight road before it to Sanju, and thence over the Karakoram to Ladakh, is unavailable for any army. It is quite out of the question that even twenty thousand men should cross the Sanju Devan, or any other of those terrible passes which intervene between Kashgar and Cashmere. Unable to pursue the straight road, the invader would have to select either the road to the right or that to the left. For many reasons that to his right is the more important, and the one which he would most probably adopt. It may even be said that without the hearty co-operation of the Chinese that to the left would not be available for him. The right road, following a south-westerly direc- tion, leads to the town of Tashkurgan, in a valley the surrounding heights of which range from ten to