EXCURSION TO THE MASAR-TAGH 461 
difficulty was the procuring of camels. I had been 
rather misled by the merchants in Kashgar, who told 
me that Maral-bashi was the best place to get good 
camels. We hardly ever saw a camel there. I had no 
resource except to try and procure some from Kashgar. 
This mission I entrusted to Mohammed Yakub, who in 
any case had to go there to post letters and bring others 
back. A fairly good camel cost 500 tengeh (^5 155-.) 
in Yarkand ; but in Kashgar only 400 (.^4 I2.S'.). Yakub 
took with him letters to Consul Petrovsky, and to the 
aksakal, asking them to assist him in the transactions, 
and within ten days he was to be back again, bringing 
with him eight fine camels and two men. 
Our arabakeshes were now dismissed, being paid 200 
tengeh {^£2 6 s.) for the journey from Maral-bashi. They 
thought of going to Yarkand to try to get work there, 
and meant to fill their two arbas with firewood from 
the last patch of forest along the road. A donkey-load 
of firew'ood was worth three tengeh ( 8 Y.) in Yarkand, 
and an arba would hold ten such loads, so that the men 
hoped to make an extra sixty tengeh (13.5'. 9Y.) by the 
return journey. 
Islam Bai was dispatched to Yarkand on horseback to 
buy several things that were required for our desert 
expedition, for example iron tanks for water, bread, rice, 
ropes, and a number of tools, such as spades and hatchets. 
I also instructed him to bring a supply of sesame oil 
{ya£'/i), and the chaff from the crushed seeds of the same 
plant {kynchyi'), etc. The oil was intended to feed the 
camels on in the desert. A jing (not quite one pint) 
of oil will sustain a camel for a month without other food ; 
though it is always a great advantage to find supplies of 
herbage during the march, so that the animals may to 
some extent freshen up and recover from their exertions. 
In March and April they cannot well go longer than three 
days without water ; but in the winter, and on level ground, 
they can last out six or seven days if necessary. 
My party had vanished like chaff before the wind. The 
missionary Johannes was the only one now left. 
