FROM KASHGAR TO IGHIZ-YAR 255 
tomb) of Kara-chinak. The court-yard of the mosque was 
planted with venerable poplars, with stems of a mighty 
girth. By an ingenious contrivance one of them was made 
to do duty as a sort of minaret. Lastly I will merely 
mention the masar of Supurga Hakim ; it had a green 
cupola and four small towers. 
On the whole the town was a rural sort of place, 
abundantly filthy, its streets narrow and dusty, its bazaar 
protected against the burning heat of summer by wooden 
roofs and straw mats. The men went about for the most 
part naked from the waist upwards. The small boys were 
entirely naked. The little girls had their heads and feet 
bare, but wore one garment — a bright red skirt. The 
women, who seldom go veiled, frequently sat at the stalls 
in the bazaars, or in the open squares, with baskets of fruit 
at their feet. As a rule they were not blessed with good 
looks. Like their sisters in other parts of East Turkestan, 
they wore their black hair in two long thick plaits. 
The Chinese quarter of the town, which, like the Chinese 
quarter of Kashgar, was called Yanghi-shahr (the New 
Town), lay close beside the Mohammedan quarter, and 
was defended by a lofty crenelated wall with towers and 
a moat. It was there that the amban of the town had his 
yamen (residence), with its train of bare-headed Chinese 
in long, white tunics and wide, blue trousers. 
The Indian caravanserai, where we put up during our 
stay in the place, was built round a square courtyard, with 
a pillared verandah along each of its sides. Its principal 
inhabitants were half-a-score Hindus from Shikarpur, im- 
porters of cloth from India by way of Leh, Kara-korum, 
Shahidula, and Yarkand. But their chief business was 
money - lending ; and by exacting exorbitant rates of 
interest they had so completely got the people into their 
power, that the greater portion of the proceeds of the 
harvest flowed into their pockets. 
But I must not linger longer in Yanghi-hissar. The 
mountain breezes are wooing me ; and there is a great deal 
to do before 1 can permit myself to indulge in rest. I was 
unable to persuade our host, Odi from Shikarpur, to accept 
