KAMI, OR KUMUL 475 



Gobi, or it partakes of the nature of a " taking-off " 

 place where travellers outfit before entering on this same 

 food-less and uninhabited stage. 



When weary travellers from Cathay sight the cool 

 snows of the Karlik Tagh they know their toils are at an 

 end. The peaks which lift themselves from the central 

 mass and are the culminating points of this insular 

 mountain-group are also a landmark to wanderers 

 on the plains below, and towards them converge the 

 ancient trade-routes connecting China and Mongolia with 

 Western Asia. Mongol nomads of the nameless region 

 to the east and north " pick up " these snowy beacons 

 from across the plains, and recognize that they form 

 the boundary-point of their territory — the end of the 

 pasture-zone. As a lighthouse on some far-flung pro- 

 montory, guiding ships from across the ocean, so the 

 snows of the Karlik Tagh shine as a guide to the 

 caravans that cross the Gobi ; and under their shadow 

 lies the safe port of Kumul. 



Those who have come hither for the first time wonder 

 at the native inhabitants, with their Aryan features 

 and strange garb ; at the quaint, mud-built town and 

 " covered " bazaars. Everywhere are new impressions, 

 sights, sounds, and above all a new religion, for Kumul is 

 the eastern outpost of the Turki-Mohammedan world, — 

 all unite to prove to the newly arrived traveller from China 

 that he has reached a foreign land, Chinese only in name. 



Kumul introduces the traveller to Turkestan ; it is 

 the first Chanto oasis on the Nan-lu, or southern high-road. 

 Westwards the Mohammedans hold all the fertile centres 

 that encircle the desert heart of Turkestan, but in any 

 other direction beyond the territory of the Khan extend 

 unsettled steppes, the domain of Mongol chieftains and 



