176 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 2, 
Mahomedans of our North-Western frontier are constantly in the 
habit of crossing from Ladak into Yarkand, going from thence wid 
Kashgar, Kokan, Bokhara, and back by Kabul. The advent of such a 
party from Ladak would be taken as a matter of course and would 
excite no suspicion. 
If we only got the latitude and approximate height of Yarkand and 
the other cities of Eastern Turkistan, the result would be very valu- 
able as we are in doubt as to the latitude and height of that portion 
of Central Asia. As yet the height has been deduced solely from 
speculations derived from the products of the country, but the great 
difference between the climate of places in the same parallels of lati- 
tude in India and China renders the resulting heights vague. 
From the conjoint observations of the compass and watch checked 
by the latitudes &c., for the direction and time occupied on each 
march, I should hope that we would also gain a very fair idea as to the 
longitude of the various places. ‘The natives, moreover, could give us 
a general account of the country and of the nature of each march. 
The compass might also be provided with a clinometer so as to give a 
general idea of the slope of the roads. 
The great difficulty of the above scheme is of course, to obtain 
reliable natives capable of undertaking such journeys and with suffi- 
cient nerve to venture into such regions, and who can at the same 
time be taught to use the instrument efficiently and to record the 
results accurately. 
At present I know of but one man* fitted for such work and who 
would require a little training, but I do not think it would be very 
difficult to get one or two more from Peshawar or elsewhere, who 
might be trained to the work ina few months. After being trained, 
the party should first make some experiments in a country which we 
already know accurately, and as soon as the results prove equal to our 
expectations, arrangements should be made for an expedition into an 
unknown territory, and I should propose Kastern Turkistan for the 
first expedition. 
The Nakshabandi Fakir Kwajah Ahmed Shah, who lives in Kash- 
mir, is constantly in the habit of travelling in Hastern and Western 
Turkistan. He is, at the present moment, I understand, in Yarkand. 
* Mirza Sujjad, who was employed by Major Walker on the Peshawar Fron< 
tier Survey. 
