THE THRESHOLD OE THE DESERT 477 
of his travels ; but he could not visit it w hilst the Yfirkcind 
daria was in flood. The Chinese, however, have long^ 
known the place ; it is mentioned under the name of Mai- 
i>he-teh in the Si-yi-s/iuy-d(XO-isi, a w'ork published m 1823- 
^According to Chinese transcription, Yantak or Yantaklik 
becomes \an-va-li-ke and Tisnab becomes Tin-tsaTu. 
The author of the work in question states that this river 
unites with the Yarkand-daria ; and that certainly would 
be the case if the water were not employed for irrigation, 
ENTRANCE TO A BAZAAR IN A CENTRAL ASIAN VILLAGE 
and did not become dissipated in the small lakes already 
mentioned. His description, however, may have been 
correct enough eighty years ago. 
In Merket, too, there were some of the loafing gold- 
seekers I have mentioned. One man told me that, along 
with some companions, he had travelled for twenty days 
on foot through the desert, carrying with them supplies 
of food and water on donkeys. After going seven days 
east-north-east by the side of gigantic sand-dunes, they 
reached a long straggling mountain. 1 hey had occasion- 
