AKSU TO SHATTA, IN TEKKES 61 



may, the absence of snow in the valleys was one of 

 the few things about which everyone told the same 

 story, and it is certainly true. The valleys are never 

 inhabited during summer, the grass there being left 

 for winter keep. 



The three races are never absolutely exclusive, 

 but some of the valleys belong to Kalmaks, others 

 to Kirghiz or Kazaks as the case may be. In a 

 Kalmak village there are usually a few of the others, 

 and vice versa. There are no special districts, but, 

 generally speaking, the further east the more 

 Kalmaks. Oh the north side of the Tekkes 

 Valley the population is said to consist entirely 

 of them. 



The Turki spoken in the district appears to be a 

 dialect or patois of some sort, at any rate differing 

 considerably from that spoken on the Yarkand side 

 of the hills, as some, of our men, who were perfectly 

 conversant with the latter, had at first some diffi- 

 culty in understanding the people here. 



