452 SOUTHERN DZUNGARIA 



go due north on leaving Guchen, until they pick up 

 the wells of the Baitik Range ; they then turn eastwards, 

 eventually joining the winter route near the Koko- 

 undur and Aji Bogdo Mountains. 



In these days, caravans invariably take one of the 

 desert tracks and never include Barkul in their itinerary ; 

 yet we were told that they did so in the old days. It 

 has been said that this route was abandoned in con- 

 sequence of the Dungan riots, but I think a far more 

 likely theory as to the cause of this change is that Guchen 

 alone, at the present day, possesses a neighbourhood 

 suitable for the feeding of large herds of camels, during 

 their enforced stay in the vicinity of the town where they 

 deposit their loads, and where the freight for the return 

 journey is collected and made up. Barkul, for instance, 

 possesses excellent grazing in the near neighbourhood, 

 but the Barkul basin supports a Government stud of 

 horses, the grazing being thus monopolized by thousands 

 of horses. Urumchi, on the other hand, is surrounded by 

 cultivation, and there is no place for camel-herds. Guchen, 

 then, alone remains, and when approaching this town 

 in the month of May, on our urnetr from the steppes 

 to the north-east, we had reason to appreciate the 

 facilities afforded by that region as a resting-place for 

 the camel-caravans. 



Here, at about twenty miles' distance from the town, 

 was a land covered with high grass, with plenty of water 

 at a depth of ten feet below the surface ; many wells had 

 been dug, and around each we found two or three en- 

 campments of caravaneers. Each was represented by 

 a blue or white canvas tent, the temporary home of the 

 caravan-bashi, or leader, around which were piled the 

 bales of merchandise ; we counted the signs of twenty 



