64.0 
THROUGH ASIA 
76°8 Fahr. (24°9 C.). The hard, level river-bed ran almost 
directly due north, at the same time gradually narrowing 
to a general breadth of about half a mile, and winding in 
and out round projecting “buttresses” of forest. It will, 
of course, be readily understood that the high summer 
flood, being spread over the wide, shallow channel, is sub- 
ject to active evaporation, so that the current necessarily 
diminishes in volume the further it advances towards the 
north. 
Again the river divided into two branches — the Yanghi- 
daria (New River) on the left and the Kovneh-daria (Old 
River) on the right. We travelled down the former, and 
met a large don key -caravan laden with groceries from 
Ak-su, from which place they started eight days before. 
The Kovneh-daria was shut in on both sides by sand-dunes 
exclusively. Despite its name, it is probably the newer 
channel, seeing that the forest-trees have not succeeded in 
establishing themselves along its banks. The result of my 
observations, upon the tendency of the Khotan-daria to 
shift its channel towards the east, goes to show that it does 
not do this regularly and conformably throughout the 
whole of its course, but does it piecemeal, a portion at a 
time. The river-bed gets choked up here and there with 
the alluvial detritus brought down by the current. In 
every place where this happens, the stream gradually rises 
above the general level of the adjacent land, and seeks a 
new passage towards the east. 
In the evening we came upon a large pool, some 500 
square yards in area, the largest I had hitherto seen. We 
made our fire on a hill overhanging the river, and from 
our camp obtained an extensive view of the surrounding 
country. In this place the current had delved a deep 
trench close under the right bank of the river, in which 
in the course of the next day’s journey we found a string 
of small pools. Upon bathing in the large pool, I dis- 
covered that it was deep ; for I was unable to reach the 
bottom. 
May 28th. During the course of this day’s march the 
river-bed gradually became wider. As a general rule. 
