CHAPTER LVII. 
DOWN THE YARKAND-DARIA AND TO KASHGAR 
E made our next camp in the village of Lengher, 
V V amongst fields of wheat, barley, and clover. The 
population were Tajiks ; but curiously enough, most of the 
geographical names in that district were Jagatai (Turki). 
The pass of Arpa-tallak, which we were to cross in a 
day or two, serves as a religious boundary between a 
predominatingly Sunnite population on the east and 
a predominatingly Shiite population on the west of it. 
Both sects however live on the best of terms with one 
another ; there is nothing of the enmity between them 
which keeps the (Sunnite) Turks and the (Shiite) Persians 
at such deadly variance. They intermarry with one 
another ; and are in constant communication backwards 
and forwards. The only tribute they pay to the Chinese 
is certain quantities of fuel and forage ; but when Yakub 
Beg was master of Kashgar, the fiscal imposts laid upon 
them were almost oppressive. Nevertheless they are said 
to have preferred his rule to that of the Chinese ; he was 
a Mohammedan like themselves, and he was their own 
padskah (king). 
The rainy season in this valley coincides with the 
summer, and the quantity of rain that falls is often so 
plenteous that the river cannot be forded. 
The recent earthquakes had brought most of the 
houses to the ground. One man who lay ill in bed died 
of terror ; another, who was riding along the glen, was 
crushed by a fragment of rock which crashed down the 
mountain-side upon him. The glen was both wild and 
picturesque, the mountain scenery being on an imposing 
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