REVIEW. — MOORCROFT’S TRAVELS. 337 
the plain of Paliccin, and encountered a cavalcade, both of horse 
and foot, going out to meet the governor of Pash Kurghan, who 
was accompanied by Khan Jan, the eldest son of Murad Beg. 
The interchange of civilities, indispensable on such occasions, 
would, we hoped, delay the approach of our pursuers, if such they 
were, and give us time to reach the residence of the Pir. Unfor- 
tunately, this was at some distance beyond the town, and we 
thought it expedient to make a circuit across a ridge of mountains, 
in preference to traversing the town. I was here obliged to change 
horses with one of my guides, as my own was unable to get be- 
yond a walk ; a failure which, considering his steadiness, I ascribed 
to his being galled by my English saddle.” 
* * * * * 
“ We left Karshi on the 21st February, and resumed our journey 
to Bokhara. The country we traversed resembled that we had 
passed between Karshi and the Oxus : after quitting the confines 
of the strip of cultivated ground on which that city stands, we 
again came to a sandy and sterile tract, less undulating than that 
nearer the river, but equally unproductive. It was with no 
slender satisfaction, that, on the morning of the 25th February, 
1825, we found ourselves at the end of our protracted pilgrimage, 
at the gates of that city which had for five years been the object of 
our wanderings, privations, and perils.” 
***** 
“ The valley of Deas is situated in the district of the same 
name. The climate of Deas is ; like that of Ladakh in general, 
severely cold for half the year, and during the other half ranging 
from intense heat in the day to cold, almost freezing, in the night. 
The inhabitants of Deas are rather under the middle stature, 
though taller than those of the eastern districts, and have coarse 
and unattractive features. Their houses are built of pebbles, 
cemented with earth, and with terraced roofs, and are most inar- 
tificial fabrics. As usual, they are built without chimneys, and the 
smoke with which they are commonly filled accounts for the fre- 
quency of complaints of the eyes. In the course of two months I 
operated on fifty cataracts, and the patients who applied for relief 
in inflammatory affections of those organs were exceedingly nu- 
merous.” 
Our extracts have run to greater lengths than we anticipated ; 
we hope they have not grown tediously long. As we continued 
our perusal of the work, page after page, the matter seemed to 
increase in interest, and we had finished reading it before we 
discovered we had marked for extraction more and lengthier 
VOL. XXI. Z Z 
