444 
THROUGH ASIA 
Shortly after noon we rested the horses for four hours 
at the caravanserai of Yanghi-abad (the New Town). In 
the courtyard there were a number of other arbas, loaded 
with fuel, from the nearest yangal (forest). Then we 
drove the whole night, from five in the evening to five 
next morning, through the pitchy darkness. The road 
was wretched in the extreme ; the arbas lurched and 
swayed miserably. But, being softly bedded, we were 
soon rocked to sleep in our cushions, furs, and felts. 
February 20th. During the night we managed to lose 
ourselves, for the arabakeshes seized the opportunity to 
take an occasional nap. After a good deal of hunting 
about, in the course of which we were overturned, we 
eventually got back into the right track. At the village 
of Kara-yulgun (the Black Tamarisk) we crossed the 
Kashgar- daria by a wooden bridge. Soon after that 
we passed through the village of Yaz-bulak (the Summer 
Spring), which derives its name from the fact, that in 
summer the river overflows its banks, and inundates large 
expanses of the low, flat country on each side of it. 
Even at that season of the year there were sheets of 
flood-water still remaining, although frozen over, and in 
them grew an abundance of kamish (reeds). During 
the warm season of the year the great road makes a 
considerable detour to avoid these inundated parts. 
About five o’clock we arrived at a place of this kind, 
where a frozen branch of the river stretched right across 
the road. We were going at full speed, till down went 
the leaders on the slippery ice. There was a tremendous 
crackling and splintering. The ice broke, and the wheels 
of the arba went through to the axle. There it stuck, 
as if fixed in a vice. All the horses were taken out 
and harnessed to the back of the vehicle ; but it cost 
us an hour’s hard tugging and hauling before we suc- 
ceeded in righting the cart. After that we tried another 
place. My arba got over without mishap ; but one wheel 
of the second cut like a sharp knife into the ice, making 
it hum and whine like a steam-saw. We were obliged 
to unload the baggage, and carry it across. As the 
