134 
NARRATIVE. 
supply clotMng for all the lower classes, at a much 
cheaper rate than the same description of cloth can 
be purchased in India, putting out of the question 
the very different values which money has in the two 
countries. All the better classes wear garments made 
of silk, or of English or Russian cotton fabrics padded 
with cotton wool grown in the country. The demand 
for English fabrics in Central Asia is capable of 
enormous increase 
The wheat crop is sown in autumn. Indian corn 
is the grain chiefly used for feeding horses, and Indian 
corn-flour is said to be mixed with wheaten flour to 
make the bread white, and certainly the Yarkand bread 
is remarkably white ; but whether the result is arrived 
at in the way mentioned I cannot say. I saw several 
fields of the species of Sorghum, which was at one 
time grown experimentally in the Panjab under the 
name of im^ee. Prom this sugar might be made, in- 
stead of, as at present, being all imported from India 
or Russia. The chief fodder plant is lucern. Tobacco 
is pretty generally cultivated. Other crops noticed 
were carrots, turnips, radishes, onions, cabbages, cu- 
cumbers, melons and gourds, red pepper, fenugreek, 
tomatoes, and coriander. The fruits were grapes, apri- 
cots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, and figs ; 
neither quinces nor pomegranates were seen. The 
fruit o^ the elseagnus (in Turki, "jigda" — called in 
England Trebizond dates) is eaten, but does not seem 
to be much esteemed. 
Most of the timber used for construction or fuel 
is either willow or poplar. Large buckets for carry- 
ing water are made by scooping out the centre part 
from logs of wood, leaving only about half an inch 
