A Peculiar Disease. 



and pestilence might reasonably be expected to account for a 

 large proportion of the people, but such is not the case. The 

 type of complaint most prevalent in the Yarkand country is 

 goitre, a disease generally supposed to result from bad or hard 

 water, though its exact origin still lacks scientific determination. 

 Its characteristics are a swelling in the glands of the neck, giving 

 the sufferer the appearance of having a large ball located in the 

 throat. The disease is painless, and so far has not shown itself 

 amenable to treatment. It is much in evidence in Yarkand, but 

 at Kashgar there is almost a total absence of the complaint^ 

 perhaps due to the difference in the water. A certain amount ot 

 malaria also obtains in the city, possibly accounted for by the 

 number of stagnant pools existing. Each of these must be 

 a hot bed of microbes, since they are never cleaned out, and 

 consequenth' full of the dirt and filth of ages. 



The Aksakal brought a large supply of vegetables, fruit, 

 and fresh meat from the bazaar, so that night Piro pro- 

 vided an unusually good dinner, or at any rate I thought so 

 after the weeks of Spartan living I had experienced. Judging 

 from the feast Giyani and the rest of the staff prepared for 

 themselves they evidently intended to celebrate their return to 

 the flesh pots, and the mountains of rice, meat, and fruit must 

 have gladdened Giyani's soul. 



I slept till late the next morning, as the visit to the Amban 

 and Commander-in-Chief was not timed to take place until 

 4 o'clock. I had had my camp bed moved on to the verandah 

 where the cooling breeze, the scent of flowers and twittering of 

 birds was a delightful contrast to the snows of the Roof of the 

 World. The only occupant of the courtyard beside myself was^ 

 a Turkoman soldier sent from the Yamen to be in attendance 

 during the period of my sojourn in Yarkand, and whom I had 

 posted at the inner gate as doorkeeper to restrain the curious 

 minded anxious to gaze upon the new arrival from distant lands. 

 At 3 o'clock the Aksakal with a crowd of satellites appeared on 

 the scene in readiness to escort me to the Yamen. Donning 



129 K 



