TO MARAL-BASHI 
447 
weather was cold and disagreeable, Islam Bai made me 
a huge fire on the bank, while the others were working 
away to get the arba across. At half-past one in the 
morning we reached the village of Ordeklik (the Duck 
Village), and there baited a while. 
February 21st. Just beyond the station we entered 
a thin poplar forest, which however gradually became 
thicker. The road was in some places rather deeply 
trenched in the loess, and often ran between low conical 
hills, crowned with tamarisk and other bushes. The 
courtyard of the rest-house of Tungan-masar (the Grave 
of the Dungan Saint) was surrounded by cart-sheds on 
piles, with a roof made of twigs and branches. The 
saint’s grave was indicated merely by a pole hung with 
tughs or offerings of rags. We encamped for the night 
at Kara-kurchin, a good way from the river. 
February 22nd. We drove the whole day through a 
forest, which was said to be the haunt of tigers, wolves, 
foxes, deer, antelopes, and hares. The station of Chyrgeh 
was rather more than four miles from the Kashgar-daria. 
These station-houses, with their stacks of hay and fuel, 
their sheds and carts, were often very picturesque and 
full of life — cattle, sheep, cats, dogs, and poultry. Eggs, 
milk, and bread were obtainable everywhere. The traffic 
was mostly carried on by means of donkey -caravans, 
conveying cotton, tea, carpets, hides, etc. between Kashgar 
and Ak-su. 
The distance between the two places is about 340 miles, 
and is divided into eighteen drtdng, i.e. stages, each a 
day’s march for an arba or a caravan. The Chinese 
mails, on the other hand, are carried in three and a 
half days, especially if they contain documents of im- 
portance. At every station there is a Chinese post- 
superintendent and three Mohammedan assistants, one 
of whom acts as servant to the Chinese postmaster, 
while the other two carry the mails. The mail-bags 
are only taken to the next station, whence they are 
immediately conveyed another stage by another man on 
horseback. Every station keeps ten horses, and the 
