190 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



rather more than a mile in width, has come in from' 

 the Takkla Makhan, and this covers the ancient 

 city of Bollamoss, where numbers of seals are at 

 times unearthed. This strip of desert among the 

 cultivation is curious, and my informant said that 

 it must have been sent as a judgment on the 

 inhabitants for their sins. 



Next day we went on to Zawa, an easy march of 

 fifteen miles, crossing the Karakash River about a 

 mile and a half after starting ; it runs in several 

 channels, and what I suppose may be called in a 

 general way its bed is about a mile wide. The 

 water was low and the fords easy, but in case of 

 need there is a boat, and we were escorted across 

 by a number of boatmen, who of course had to be 

 rewarded for their quite superfluous services. Then 

 came a mile or so of rice-flats, producing as much 

 in the way of weeds as rice, after which we entered 

 the town of Karakash. This is a big and thriving 

 place, with a very long bazaar. The street is 

 narrow, and as it is at this season covered in with 

 awnings to keep out the sun a custom general in 

 Central Asian towns the effect was rather like 

 riding through a long and populous tunnel. We 

 camped in an orchard near the serai, which is 

 beyond Zawa proper, and were again treated to a 

 small buran ; but as there was no sand to blow 

 about it did not inconvenience us much. 



On the 2ist, or, to be more strictly accurate, just 



