TO MARAL-BASHI 
443 
their wares. Every now and again we met women in 
large round caps and white veils, Chinamen dressed from 
top to toe in blue, donkey- caravans slowly forcing their 
way through the throng. The place was as lively as an 
ant-heap. 
At each end of the bazaar there was a gate, closed with 
wooden doors ; but the town was unwalled. Counting the 
outlying farms, the place numbered between 700 to 800 
houses or families. The greater part of the population 
were Sarts (Jagatai Turks) ; though Dungans were also 
numerous, and there were a few Chinese colonists. The 
town produced rice, cotton, wheat, and other cereals, 
melons, apples, pears, grapes, cucumbers, and various 
species of vegetables. 
February 19th. After leaving Faizabad we entered a 
dead level plain, greyish-yellow, and of a monotonously 
barren appearance, covered with dry, finely powdered dust, 
which blew up at the slightest breath of wind. The dust 
penetrated everywhere, searching into our furs, into every- 
thing we had inside the cart, and collected in thick layers 
on the roof. We covered the cart with the tent-felts, to 
try and protect ourselves a little, letting the folds hang 
down in front as far as was possible without shutting out 
the view. The dust was so thick and deep that it was 
like driving over a vast feather-bed, and the wheels of 
the arbas were almost sucked down into it. Our progress, 
heavily laden as we were, was necessarily very slow. 
When walking, the whole foot sank into the dust at 
every step, and the track you left behind you was nothing 
more than a series of “caved in” dimples. The un- 
fortunate horses strained at their traces with all their 
might, till the sweat ran down their sides ; they too were 
smothered with dust, and were all of the same dirty grey 
colour. Three of them were harnessed side by side in 
front and pulled by means of long traces ; the fourth was 
between the shafts. The shaft horse balanced the cart, 
which had to be properly packed, so as not to press upon 
him with too great a strain. If he stumbled, we might 
expect a shaking. 
