154 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 



turned to the north-west through the region traversed by General 

 Prshevalsky in 1880. In some of the valleys adjoining the Saithang 

 plain (between 38° and 39° N. latitude) wild men are said to exist 



(Prshevalsky mentions having seen one). A k states that these 



men wear skins and live in caves and glens and under the shelter of 

 overhanging rocks. They are ignorant even of the use of arms, and 

 lie in wait for their prey near pools or springs of water, and are 

 remarkably swift of foot. They kindle fire with flints and flay the 

 animals they kill with sharp-edged stones. In this region wild 

 camels and wild horses are also found. 



At Yembi, in Saithang, the party remained three months, but hero 



M g, one of A k's companions, treacherously deserted with 



150 rupees in coin and five ponies, and this compelled A k to 



take service for five months. Their next important resting place was 

 Saitu, called Sachu by the Mongolians (Shachau of Marco Polo). 

 Fruit and vegetables are here abundant ; cotton is also cultivated, 

 and the Chinese Governor has lately established a manufactory for 

 weaving silk cloth. The climate is generally health}- and like that 



of Yarkand, though A k was attacked by a peculiar disease in 



the legs, said to be due to walking barefoot on a particular kind of 

 soil. In August 1881 the travellers left Sachu, and retracing their 

 footsteps crossed the continuation of the Kuen Lun rangef by a 

 more easterly route than that they had previously taken, and found 

 themselves on the Tibetan plateau, close by the sources of the 

 Hoang Ho, which were afterwards visited by Prshevalsky on his 

 last journey in 1884-85. They crossed the Ma-chu. as the upper 

 waters of the Hoang Ho are here called, and travelled southwards 

 by a lonely, uninhabited route leading across the Di-chu or Upper 

 Yangtse-kiang to Kegudo, which is a place of trade. From this 



place A k proceeded almost due S.E. in company with a trader 



for Darchendo or Tasienlu, and which was reached after a long 

 journey on the 5th February 1882.* This city is a market, chiefly 

 for tea, which is grown in gardens to the east and carried to Lhasa 

 and to various places in Tibet, and eren to Kashmir itself. The 

 city is governed by a Chinese officer, assisted by several subordinate 

 officials ; there is also a Tibetan officer who possesses a jurisdiction 



over the original inhabitants. A k was kindly received by two 



I is part of the journey coincides roughly with that of Mr. liockhill, formerly 

 Secretary to the American Legation in Pekin. (See Proceedings of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society, p. 730 of 1889. Also Mr. R.'s book, published by Longmans, l^Ul.) 

 t .s, , note on previous page. 



