THE PLAIN OF TAGHARMA 
277 
tranquil — not even the soft whispers of the brooks reached 
our ears. But the mosquitoes were very troublesome, 
keeping us awake a long time. 
The Kirghiz, who inhabit the plain of Tagharma, 
remain there winter and summer alike. They counted 
eighty yurts, fifty being occupied by Kessek Kirghiz and 
thirty by 1 eit Kirghiz. On an average there were four 
persons to each yurt. Besides these, there were twenty 
families of Tajiks at Besh-kurgan and Sarala. But the 
majority of the Kirghiz were poor. All together, they 
owned scarcely more than 2000 sheep and 200 yaks ; 
several of them possessed barely half-a-dozen sheep, some 
none at all. On the other hand the Tajiks were reputed 
rich. These people are not nomads, but permanent 
dwellers in houses of clay. Their chief occupation 
is agriculture ; their principal crops being wheat and 
barley. At the same time they breed sheep and other 
domestic flocks, a single individual frequently owning as 
many as one thousand sheep. The Kirghiz say they were 
much better off a score of years ago, when Yakub Beg 
Was ruler in Kashgar. In his time they enjoyed much 
greater freedom, and were allowed to drive their flocks and 
herds westwards to the grazing-grounds on the Pamirs ; 
whereas now the Chinese jealously forbid them to cross 
the Russian frontier. Our host, Mohammed Yussuf, was 
beg of all the Kirghiz of Tagharma. 
Wild animals were numerous in that region, and 
embraced the wild goat, hare, and other rodents, the 
wolf and fox, the partridge, wild- duck, wild-geese, and 
several species of Natatores and Grallatores. 
On 7th July we continued our journey, aiming west 
and^ north-west for the foot of the Mus-tagh-ata massiv, 
having on our right hand that part of it which is called 
Kara-korum (the Black Stony Region). Our route lay 
alongside the Kara-su, which derives its waters from 
glacial streams and natural springs combined, and, after 
gathering up the drainage of the plain of Tagharma, 
effects a junction wdth the Yarkand-daria. We passed 
bie ends of several old moraines and a great many erratic 
