1 70 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



whose orders there is no escape, as many Eastern 

 names and titles are bestowed in this jesting spirit. 



On May 3Oth we reached Karashahr, going by a 

 rather swampy short cut close to what must be an 

 offshoot of Lake Bagrash, where we saw a good 

 many ducks. From this on there are pheasants 

 in more or less abundance wherever there is 

 jungle to hold them. The Tekkes pheasants have 

 a white neck-ring, but those on the Yarkand side 

 \have not. We camped outside the town of 

 Karashahr, and did not go into it at all, merely 

 exchanging cards and gifts with the amban. It 

 has the reputation of being the dirtiest city in Asia, 

 and lives up to it from the account our messenger 

 gave us ; for the rest it is an uninteresting-looking 

 place on a flat plain with hardly any trees. The 

 inhabitants .are mostly Tungans and Kalmaks, 

 neither of them remarkable for cleanliness, while 

 the latter have a most unpleasant custom in that 

 they do not bury their dead, but throw them out 

 for the dogs and crows. This may be all right 

 where there is only a scattered nomad population, 

 but does not seem at all conducive to the healthiness 

 of a city. 



We made no stay here, but left the next morning, 

 crossing the river which drains the Yulduz valley 

 by a ferry close to the town, and stopping that night 

 near a small serai where there was a malodorous 

 swamp and a well of brackish water. The following 



