646 
THROUGH ASIA 
(about ^130) every year. The principal products of 
the district are rice, wheat, maize, and cotton. The 
little town stands on a branch of the Ak-su-daria, called 
the Kovneh-daria ; it is crossed by a bridg'e which leads 
straight into the main street of the town. 
June I St. We rode the whole of the day through one 
continuous street, with canals on both sides of it, and 
shaded by avenues of trees, among which mulberries 
and willows predominated. The next day, at a place 
called Besh - arik - ustang (the Channel of the Five 
Branches), we came out upon the great highway which 
runs to Kashgar, and also crosses the Ak-su-daria to 
Yanghi-shahr (the New Town), a place enclosed within 
the walls of a Chinese fortress. Immediately we arrived, 
I sent a man with my passport and Chinese calling-card 
to the Dao Tai or chief officer of the district ; but 
received back an indefinite sort of answer. Accordingly 
I did not take the trouble to call upon “his excellency,” 
a man who was notorious for his arrogance and drunken 
habits. 
June 3rd. We were now only a short distance from 
the Mohammedan town of Ak-su. Upon arriving there 
I was received with marked friendliness by Mohammed 
Emin, the aksakal (white-beard) or head of the West 
Turkestan merchants. He lodged me in his own good 
and comfortable house, sending the camels and horses 
to a neighbouring caravanserai. 
June 4th. During the past three days the white 
camel had pined away, refusing to eat grass or anything 
except a few broken fragments of wheat - bread. On 
June 3rd he had walked the short distance from the 
New to the Old Town without stopping'; but every 
time anybody went near him, he screamed out in a tone 
of suffering, as though he were afraid he was going to 
be hurt. At night he ate nothing ; and next morning 
Kasim came with a concerned countenance to tell me 
that Ak-tuya was very 111 . I hastened to the courtyard 
and found him lying on his side, with his legs doubled 
under him and his neck stretched out along the ground. 
