32 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



mosquitoes, but at the next place, Yakchumba, 

 though the natives informed us that they had only 

 just begun to come out, there were already enough 

 to be a nuisance. 



We camped one night under a few trees just 

 by the ferry over the Yarkand River, and while 

 here a man from the neighbouring village brought 

 us a lot of eggs for sale I happened to see them, 

 and as they looked rather ancient, proceeded to 

 make a further examination before they were paid 

 for ; the first was rotten, the next and the next ; 

 they were all bad, and the fellow must have col- 

 lected all the nest eggs in the district for our 

 special benefit. We talked to this genius in a way 

 which rather alarmed him, and then sent him off 

 for more, with the assurance that if he brought 

 any bad ones we would make him eat them him- 

 self. The next lot were fresh. 



Next morning, August 12th, we crossed the river, 

 ponies and all, in huge, flat-bottomed boats. In 

 winter it is fordable a few miles higher up, and the 

 direct road goes that way, but when the summer 

 floods are on it is necessary to make a detour to 

 the ferry, which has to be down here as the naviga- 

 tion above is much impeded by sandbanks. 



Some distance outside the city of Yarkand we 

 were met by a lot of Hindus who reside there, 

 and thus escorted, we proceeded to the house we 

 were to stay in a very good one, with a pleasant 



