FROM KULJA TO KUMUL 459 



away from their nearest neighbour, when apparently 

 there was ample room for them nearer the villages. Had 

 the colonists been of Chanto race they would have worked 

 together and formed small communities ; but the in- 

 dependent Chinese, possessing more initiative, started 

 ranches on their own account. 



On entering the sand-belt we found that the dunes 

 were well covered with tamarisk and small saxaul ; as 

 far as the drainage extended were reeds and small 

 poplars in the hollows; the dunes lay across our 

 track, having been formed by south-westerly winds. 

 We rested at a solitary Kirghiz yurt that night, and the 

 next day passed over a similar country for several 

 hours, until reaching the northern edge of the sand- 

 belt. At this point the sands were about twelve miles 

 across, — in a direct line north and south ; farther east 

 the zone narrows down to three or four miles, and 

 then runs out in a wedge-shaped tongue until it ends 

 abruptly about thirty miles east of the Karaul Kuntiza ; 

 we noted at once that this sand-area was wrongly defined 

 on the existing maps. 



On reaching the northern edge of the sand we entered 

 a dense forest of saxual ; travelling through this for 

 several hours towards the east, we reached a group 

 of ten yurts, one of many small encampments of Kirei, 

 snugly ensconced amongst the saxaul trees or in 

 hollows in the dunes. This was the home of our guide, 

 who in his of&cial capacity was " over fifty yurts," 

 he being responsible for their good conduct and the 

 payment of their taxes. The people presented the usual 

 aspect of healthy, clean-living, well-to-do nomads of 

 Mussulman faith ; not fanatical, nor, on the other hand, 

 showing any desire to offer their services to travellers 



