ARRIVAL IN Y ARK AND, ETC. 
131 
sandy loam, which, owing to the excessive dryness of 
the climate, hardly produces even weeds without 
artificial irrigation, but when irrigated gives ex- 
cellent crops. The marshy ground about the city 
seems to be lower than the level of the canals, and is 
occasionally flooded by leakage from the latter, or 
from the overflow of the river and its numerous 
branches. On all this low ground there is good 
pasturage, and the supply of water is so plentiful, 
that the area under cultivation admits of almost 
indefinite extension. I could not myself explore the 
country round, but I judged that it was chiefly marsh, 
from the fact that almost all the birds brought in by 
my collectors were waders. 
No stones or rocks were observed, and from the 
scarcity of fuel, the bricks used in building are all 
simply sun-dried. The bowls of hukas, which were 
almost the only articles of burnt clay observed, were of a 
black colour, like a brick which has been over-fired. 
All the water for domestic purposes is taken either 
directly from branches of the river, from canals, or 
from tanks which are filled every few days. I saw 
only one well — viz., between Sanju and Koshtak. 
The water there was eight feet from the surface. 
The tanks are very subject to pollution, for horses 
and cattle drink from them, vessels of all kinds are 
dipped in them, and no precautions are taken to 
prevent dirty water running into them ; and we attri- 
buted the slight illness from which we all suflfered 
during our stay to the use of this water. If the 
theory is correct that cholera is chiefly conveyed 
through impure water, an outbreaJc of the disease 
in Yarkand would be very fatal. I made many 
