290 NOTES. 



latter superior to the Chinese kind, but hitherto unused ; 

 its root ground into powder is an antidote to the bite of the 

 phalangium.' 



The natural wealth of the Urumchi district is consider- 

 able. In the mountains south of Manas alluvial gold is 

 found everywhere. The iron works near Urumchi are 

 supported by government ; the ore, however, only yields 

 13 per cent, of metal. Saltpetre is obtained at Yan- 

 balgasun, and several thousand pounds of it are annually 

 sent to the gunpowder manufactories at Hi and Tarbagatai. 

 The talc found here is of excellent quality, and serves the 

 inhabitants instead of glass. The mountains near Urumchi 

 yield an abundance of excellent coal of different qualities ; 

 the best being found in the northern mountains ; this burns 

 without smell or smoke, is easily lighted, not quickly ex- 

 tinguishable, and leaves a perfectly white ash. The coal 

 from the mountains west of the town is suitable for the 

 kitchen and burns to a red ash ; besides these there are 

 two inferior qualities of mineral coal. The best charcoal 

 is prepared from a tree called the soso ; if fired in the 

 evening, it will burn all night ; the wood of this tree is 

 very hard, but its root does not penetrate deep into the 

 ground. 



Salt is obtained in the lakes and is of a dark colour ; 

 red salt is brought from Turfan. 



Urumchi, like Hami, is a great entrepot for trade as well 

 as for. the transport and storage of merchandise. It has 

 communications with China (via Hami), Turfan, Hi, and 

 Tarbagatai, besides a direct road across the desert to 

 Kuku-khoto, frequented by merchants. The merchants 

 live in the suburbs of the old town in separate communities. 

 Thus there are communities of Suh-chau, Lan-chau, and 

 Kuku-khoto merchants, the latter known at Urumchi as 

 'guests from the Trans-Ordos country' (^Peh-taii-kch), are 



' This may be the venomous spider of Eastern Turkestan described 

 by Timkowski (i. 405). Its bite was said to cause death if remedies 

 were not immediately applied. Mianeh, in Persia, near Tabriz, is also 

 celebrated for a venomous kind of white bug, which is said to be 

 dangerous to strangers. 



