KUCHA TO KHOTAN 185 



hills, where the going was very heavy and progress 

 slow. On the loth we reached Islamabad, a village, 

 though not much of a one ; but on this occasion we 

 were glad to reach an inhabited country and houses 

 once more, as, though we usually had a distinct 

 preference in favour of the jungle, by now we were 

 rather tired of it. After leaving Islamabad, we 

 covered two marches of twenty-seven and twenty 

 miles before reaching another village. Part of the 

 way was over more sand-hills, and the whole coun- 

 try is monotonous and ugly no trees, only sand- 

 hills, flats by the river, and a few bushes, the higher 

 sand dunes which show the limits of the desert 

 being visible on both sides. 



Hence another ten miles took us into Khotan on 

 July 1 3th. A small buran was blowing and the air 

 was consequently thick with sand, so the country 

 was almost invisible ; but from what could be seen it 

 appeared to be mostly grassy flats with scattered 

 houses at intervals. Here there were stones in the 

 road again, the first seen, with the exception of the 

 Mazar Tagh, since one day out from Kucha. 



We were in Khotan at last, having covered four 

 hundred and sixty-four miles from Kucha in twenty- 

 six days (twenty-five marches), a pretty good per- 

 formance with a worn-out caravan, but accomplished 

 at considerable cost of horseflesh. We started from 

 Kucha with thirty-two ponies, but twelve of these 

 we gave away to various shepherds on the road, as 



