OF FASTERN TURKESTAN. 79 
hills. A bitterly cold wind was blowing on the 22nd, but on 
the whole the air has been still, with a moderate breeze only 
on a few days. 
During the first half of the month the mean maximum 
temperature was as low as 39° 8, the highest temperature on the 
6th being 34°-2 ; the mean minimum temperature (in the shade) 
was 17°7; the mean maximum temperature of the sun’s ravs 
was 80°'8, on the 6th not rising above 47°°7 ; andthe grass mini- 
mum thermometer on two occasions registered 8°35. In the 
latter half month the minimum on grass was 6°96 on the 18th; 
the minimum in the shade, 7°°5 on the 80th, at Yepchan; 
while for the last five days of the month the maximum tem- 
perature has not risen above freezing point. 
2nd.— Toblok.—From Yangi Hissar to-day our road lay over 
the ground I have already described. Near the village of 
Kalpin, I started a Hare (Lepus yarkandensis), called in Turki 
Toshkan, in a bit of uneven loéss ground. We are putting up 
here at a farmer’s house; and as there is a good deal of. iron- 
smelting going on in Toblok, we went out this afternoon to 
witness the operation. The furnace was low and round, with 
an opening in the middle for the escape of the smoke; five 
men and women were seated round the furnace, each blowing 
a pair of bellows—so that there were altogether ten bellows at 
work, 400fbs of ore with 200tbs of charcoal are said to yield 
from 100 to 120Ibs of iron if the ore be good; if the ore is 
bad or inferior the same quantity will yield from 70 to 80Ibs. 
No flux seems to be used; and the slag always forms at the 
bottom, the iron being found above this. 
3rd.—Kizil.—The sun was shining out to-day, and the haze 
being less than usual we could distinguish the mountains on 
our right, towering up to an apparently stupendous height. - 
After leaving Toblok we went over a number of hillocks formed of 
yellowish clay, and on the flat steppe the ground seemed to slope 
gently down towards us from the mountains. The birds noticed 
to-day were Galerita magna and Otocoris penicillata, both nu- 
merous; Corvus cu/mimatus and C. corni#; and several Grey 
Sbrikes (Lantus Homeyeri), one of which I shot. 
. 4th.—Kokrobat.—A longish ride to-day: starting from Kizil 
at 9 a.M. I did not get in here until 5 p.m.; but then there 
were two halts to he allowed for, one for breakfast at a solitary 
mosque in the desert—said to have been built by Jengiz Khan, 
_—and one for a dastarkhwan at Akrabat, presented by our old 
friend Mahammad Baba, the Yuzbashi who first met us at Shahid- 
ullah, On the bare steppe I again saw numbers of the Horned 
Lark (Otocoris penicillata) ; a couple of Kestrels (7. alaudarius) ; 
and near the villages the Common Crow (C. culminatus). 
