Bala Murghab (Caves at)

General description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The simple vault of a man-made rock chamber (about 3 m long), close to two similar -caves- in ruins, is reported by YATE, Charles Edward (1888: 222-223) from a cliff face above the left bank of the Murghab (Morghab) somewhere near the fortress of Bala Murghab: On my way back [note 1] to Bala Murghab I took the opportunity of exploring a cave in a cliff, on the left bank of the river, that I had often looked longingly at, but had never been able to get to before. After climbing along the steep hillside above the cliff, at some risk of tumbling into the river in full flood 100 or 200 feet [30 or 60 m] down below, and stumbling suddenly on the way to a flock of young ibex, which certainly never expected to see us in such a place, I at last got to a slope where I could get down to the water's edge, and then, with the help of a rope, held by my two Sikh orderlies up above, I managed to climb along the cliffs, and after considerable scraping of elbows and knees, I got up to the cave, to find nothing but a simple vault, eight or ten feet deep. Two similar vaults, one on either side of the entrance, were partially broken away [note 2]; but when the place was new, I daresay it was cool and pleasant to sit and meditate in, with the river rolling away just below.