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22 The trio drain the Pamirs, the Aksu uniting with Panjah at Kala-i-Wamar, the third at Langer Kisht. The Pamir and the Aksu rise amid the glaciers which drain into the Sarikul Lake (13,390 ft, above sea-level) and Lake Chakmaktin (13,100 ft). The five rivers which make up the waters of the Panjah or upper Oxus are; the Pamir, the Panjah, the Aksu (or Murghab), the Shakh and the Ghund. The Oxus is very rapid in its early course. At Baza-i-Gumbaz and for a short distance along the Wakhan valley, the river slackens, until turning westward it recovers its speed and tumbles swiftly forward. From Rang, which is a little east of Ishkashim, to Khorok in Shighnan, there is a preceptible increase in the current of the river. The Oxus, in its passage through the Wakhan valley, presents a number of interesting contrasts. In its higher reaches, at first a tumbling mountain torrent, it becomes, below Langar-Kisht, a slow lifeless stream, so nerveless and placid that it cannot carry with it the stones which it has brought from its upper course. The eye meets here vast areas covered with large quantities of debris. But a little below, as far as Ptuk, there is a belt of vegetation, and the banks are covered with grass. There are many willows, white poplars, and here and there impenetrable copses of camel thorns. Beyond Ptuk once more the beneficient character of the river changes, and the banks reflect a waste of sand-dunes and patches of drift sand. Even the mud deposit of the main stream appears to be exhausted. The mountains at Langer Kisht recede considerably on either side from the river and thus make room for a broader valley. But they close again immediately west of Kala-i-Panjah, forming a very narrow ravine through which the river can just pass. Beyond this narrow passage the valley expands once more and the rivers is divided into a