Across the Roof of the World. 



towards Ladakh and Kashmir. The Indian element in the popu- 

 lation of Tiirkistan is small, mainly consisting of those engaged in 

 the trade between Yarkand and Kashmir., and others permanently 

 settled in the country. There are a number of persons of mixed 

 blood, known as Argoons, the result of marriages contracted 

 between Yarkandis and Ladakhis. They are mostly employed 

 in shopkeeping in the larger towns and villages, or gain a liveli- 

 hood on the trade route as servants and caravan men. There 

 are also some Hindus in Yarkand posing as money lenders, who 

 seem to do well out of the simple Turki. In pursuit of their 

 calling they apparently stick at nothing, and their behaviour 

 in the general conduct of their business has called for stern 

 repression on the part of the British Consul at Kashgar. 

 They are an enterprising set, and had even extended opera- 

 tions into Russian Turkistan, making themselves so obnoxious 

 that the Russians had them expelled from the country, to 

 the encouragement of thrift and the enhancement of Russian 

 reputation. 



Many Russian-made goods are displayed for sale in the native 

 shops, those of a flimsy nature, such as handkerchiefs and table 

 cloths largely predominating, while there are also looking glasses 

 in little boxes, and a mixture of trunks of gaudy hue covered with 

 much brass and tinsel work. 



The Russians are, from their geographical position, better 

 able to introduce trade into Chinese Turkistan than we are, since 

 the road from Osh, the nearest point on the Russian Central 

 Asian Railway, to Kasghar and Yarkand, can bear no comparison 

 to that from Yarkand to Kashmir in point of ph3'sical difficulty,, 

 and the length of time taken to traverse it. 



One sees very little of the Chinese in Yarkand, who although 

 the ruling race, do not represent more than 5 per cent, of the 

 total population. They, in common with other towns in Turkistan,. 

 reside in a walled city of their own, distinct from the Musulman 

 quarter. 



In a country where sanitary measures are non-existent plague- 

 128 



