OF EASTERN TURKESTAN. 65 
siderable distance. The maximum temperature in the shade 
has varied from 63° to 72°4; the minimum from 44°5 
to 40°8; and the temperature of the sun’s rays from 
108° to 122%. The mean reading of the mercurial baro- 
meter has been 26°040 (resulting height of Yarkand 4,015 
feet.) 
The City of Yarkand is of a very irregular shape, and sur- 
rounded by a thick mud wall, about thirty feet high and 
tapering towards the top, where it is from ten to fifteen feet 
wide ; the city has five gates. The houses are principally one- 
storied and built of mud and unburnt bricks; except the 
Colleges or Madrasas (and a large serai) which are built of 
burnt bricks and many of them look quite imposing. The 
drinking water of the city is got from numerous tanks in it, 
supplied from the canals ; these tanks are usually in a filthy 
condition, and indeed the sanitary arrangements of Yarkand 
are decidedly bad. 
The Fort is square, and is surrounded by a deep ditch; there 
is only one entrance to it now and its mud walls are enormously 
thick. Init are the Dad Khwah’s palace and the residences 
of all the soldiers of the place, with their families; the houses, 
as usual, being built of unburnt brick. 
The soil about Yarkand is light colored and sandy, but 
seems to be wonderfully fertile when irrigated. Orchards of 
fruit trees are numerous, and there is extensive cultivation 
about with many irrigation streams and canals; some of the 
latter very neatly bridged over. The principal trees seem to 
be poplar, willow, mulberry and eleagnus; some old poplars 
(P. alta) ina Mazar or shrine close by, have attained a great 
height. 
The people of Yarkand are, of course, all Muhammadans 
but, as far as I can judge, not at all bigoted in their ideas; the 
few Chinese who have remained in the country have adopted 
the religion of their conquerors. I rather think that a little 
gentle persuasion, in the shape of throat-cutting, was used to 
bring about this conversion; but that took place some time 
ago. The women are not very particular about hiding their 
faces, but they are certainly not ‘bonny ;’ they seem to be 
mostly moulded on the Rubens type of beauty. A marked 
characteristic of the Yarkandis—men, women and even children 
—isa great aversion to walking, however short a distance; 
but they are extremely fond of riding ponies or donkeys, 
whichever they can get. 
Then as to birds: Passer montanus is the common Sparrow 
about here; Galerita magna is met with at every step away 
from houses; Zurtur Stoliceke is very common—we have a 
I 
