Oasis and Desert. 



but I pushed on another four miles to Aktum, camping in a garden 

 the property of a wealthy Beg. I think we were all satiated with 

 the incessant marching, for we had been doing something like 

 14 and 15 hours daily, on one day crossing two high passes, 

 fording rushing torrents and travelling unusually fast. In the 

 last two days I had traversed the whole length of the 

 Asgar Sai, having covered 70 miles and was now within 

 30 miles of Yarkand. Through the energy of Nadir I again 

 obtained fresh ponies here, so moved at half-past five the 

 next morning for Yarkand. The road runs mostly through 

 avenues of tall trees, with a considerable amount of cultivation 

 flanking it. 



Speaking generally Chinese Turkistan is a land of deserts and 

 sand dunes, the rivers rendering cultivation to some extent possible 

 by means of irrigation channels constructed to this end. Only in 

 the neighbourhood of streams is cultivated land met with, since, 

 the rainfall being practically nil, all watering has to be done by 

 irrigation. The result is these portions consist of strips of land 

 along the streams, the ground beyond giving place to the desert. 

 Throughout my ride from Aktum to Yarkand I was passing 

 through these leafy avenues and over tiny irrigation channels 

 that continually crossed the road. Running parallel to these 

 avenues were deeper canals, all part of a system of irrigation 

 which time has evolved for the reclamation of land threatened 

 by the hungry wastes of sand on every side. The larger water- 

 ways, where they cross the road, are spanned by wooden bridges 

 of an ancient make and usually comprise layers of logs and 

 brushwood sprinkled over with earth, a structure that creaks 

 and groans ominously as one's horse passes over. 



Here and there are seen groups of houses, built of mud, with 

 flat roofs, low pitched places of sombre mien, in keeping with the 

 sandy wastes around. All are single storied with usually only 

 an opening in the roof to admit of light. The better class of house 

 has its orchard with picturesque groves of fruit trees and running 

 rivulets, giving life to the ground beneath and imparting a sense 



