654 The American Naturalist. [July, 
traverses for a portion of the distance anarrow wedge of cultivation 
intervening between the Nan-Shan mountains and the desert, but the 
last portion of the way passes over a barren salt plain or on low hills. 
An elevation of 9,000 feet is reached from two places. Along the cul- 
tivated strips coalis plentiful; the main cropsare various kinds of 
millets. After leaving Lan-Chau the pigs in the villages are as numer- 
ousas the men. From Sci-Chau to Ngan-Si-Fu, on the edge of the 
actual desert of Gobi, is 178 miles; and the town of Hami, on a small 
rich oasis, is 240 miles further. From Hami to Peking there is a camel 
route, which can be traversed by those animals in 70 to 8o days, but 
this is only used for the conveyance of war material. To reach 
-Urumtsi (408 miles) the Tian-Shan mountains must be crossed at their 
easy easternmost pass, at an elevation of 9,000 feet. There are some 
fertile oases on the way. At this point Mr. Bell diverged to Tok-Sien, 
the most eastern town of Yakub Beg’s former domain, 103 miles from 
Urumtsi, and on the opposite side of the Tian-Shan mountains, Be- 
tween this point and Karashahar (150 miles) Lake Baghrash, a fresh- 
water lake with an abundance of fish, is passed. The whole of this 
eastern portion of Chinese Turkestan or Kashgaria is in truth nothing 
more than a desert, with fertile oases at intervals, each more or less 
thickly populated and containing atown. As we proceed westward 
the Turkish element commences to predominate over the Tungusian 
and the Chinese. Thus the fertile oasis of Khur has 2,000 Turkish 
ae 5o Tungusian, and 10 Chinese. Aksu, 373 miles beyond 
Karashahar, is the centre of a district with 180,000 people. From 
Aksu to Kashgar, in which district there are 160,000 families, is 310 
miles. The district of Yarkand is still more populous, and is credited 
with 300,000 families. From the extreme length of the route from 
Peking to Kashgaria, the great number of days required to reach the 
most populated districts from the eastern: seaboard, the proximity of 
those districts to Russian Turkestan, and the identity of race between 
the subjects of the two countries on both sides of the border, it seems 
evident that Mr. Bell is correct in his conclusion that unless China 
promptly constructs a railway to connect this outlying province with 
her main body, it must fall into the hands of Russia whenever it suits 
the convenience and finances of the latter to take it, Not that the 
Turks particularly dislike the Chinese rule, which is rather loose than 
severe. Several routes lead from Yarkhand to Kashmir and Hindoo- 
stan, but the Kilian route is, since the enclosure of the Mustagh, the 
one universally used. Before reaching Kashmir this route goes over 
the following passes: Kilian, 17,000 feet; Suget, 17,100 feet; Kara 
