In this wilderness, which in winter is a world of snow and ice, there is another river, the Ak-su, so that there are three streams, the Pamir, Panja, and the Ak-su. This trio drains the Pamirs, the Ak-su uniting with the Panja at Kala Wamar, the others at Langar Kisht. The Pamir and the Ak-su rise amid the Nicholas glaciers which drain into Lake Victoria and Lake Chakmaktin; and, while neither of these lakes can be identified positively as the sole source of the Oxus nor the Pamir river be said to represent its origin, rivers, glaciers and lakes are associated very closely with its head-waters. The larger lake, known as Lake Victoria, and discovered in 1838 by Wood, is situated on the Pamir river; the smaller lake, Lake Chakmaktin, is on the Ak-su. The Pamir Daria flows through the Great Pamir. It possesses direct connection with the Oxus at Langar Kisht. The Ak-su flows through the Little Pamir. Lake Chakmaktin, lying on the Little Pamir, is situated 290 feet lower than Lake Victoria, which is 13,390 feet above sea-level. Panja, the third stream, rises in the congeries of glaciers which lie immediately below the Wakh-jir Pass--indisputably separate from the Nicholas glacier and without any connection with the two lakes. The five rivers which make up the waters of the Panja or Oxus are the Pamir, Panja, Ak-su or Murghab, Shakh and Ghund. Many of these streams bear two, three, or even five names, this engaging variety of description springing from the fact that the several parts of the same stream are differently described by the various natives--Afghans, Chinese, Tajiks and Kirghiz--who frequent the Pamir region. In some cases, too, explorers have added names derived from imperfect interpretation of local information, until it may be said that few rivers in the world bear so many names as does the Oxus in its higher reaches. [Illustration: NEAR THE SOURCE OF THE OXUS _Photo, Olufsen_] [Illustration: THE VALLEY OF THE OXUS _Photo, Olufsen_]