458 
THROUGH ASIA 
March 2nd. Having paid and settled up, we left Maral- 
bashi, and drove south-west towards the village of Khamal 
(the Wind), situated on the left bank of the Yarkand-daria. 
The road led across a slightly broken steppe country, with 
scanty herbage, tussocks of grass, and bushes. Khamal 
was inhabited by thirty families, who cultivated wheat and 
maize ; their fields being irrigated by an a 7 'ik (irrigation 
canal) led from the river. During the .summer, when the 
river is in flood, it overflows and inundates wide tracts 
along the banks. The spring-floods, caused by the melt- 
ing of the winter ice, likewise bring down considerable 
quantities of water, as we witnessed every day. 
March 3rd. Through jungle and reeds, through poplar 
groves, across small belts of sand, and through marshes, 
where the ice was just on the point of breaking- up, our 
creaking carts ploughed their way along the western bank 
of the Yarkand-daria. Wild boar abound in the jungle, 
and do much damage to the crops in the villages around. 
To prevent this the natives put up sheds here and there 
about the fields ; and there they live and keep watch when 
harvest time is approaching. 
The amban (Chinese governor) of Maral-bashi had given 
orders beforehand to the on-bashis (chiefs over ten men) of 
the various villages, that they should receive me in a fitting 
manner ; and as a matter of fact his words were carried out 
to the letter. At every place we stopped at vre found 
rooms ready prepared, and everything we needed in the 
way of food for ourselves and for our animals was pro- 
vided for us. 
Aksak-maral (the Lame Deer), where we made our next 
stop, consisted of thirty houses, most of them occupied by 
Dolons, who reared cattle and sheep, and grew wheat and 
maize. The winters there are cold, but the snowfall is in- 
considerable. The springs are windy. The small amount 
of rain which falls generally comes in the autumn, often to 
the detriment of the crops. 
During the night, when the air was still and cold, and 
the currents set up by the active radiation of the day-time 
ceased to rise, the atmosphere generally cleared. So it did 
