DOWN THE YARKAND-DARIA 71 1 
scale ; consequently the people who inhabit it were frank, 
cheerful, and liberal-minded. 
September 22nd. We rode through a string of eight 
"cillages, each consisting of several houses, with court- 
yards, surrounded by cultivated fields and gardens, in 
which walnuts, apricots, peaches, apples, melons, and 
other fruits were grown. After the barren mountain 
tcgions which we had left behind us, it was pleasant to 
catch the scent of freshly cut corn. We saw neither 
>aks nor camels in that district, only cattle, donkeys, 
orses, sheep, and goats. 
The prettiest village w'as Tong, its luxuriant orchards 
^ad picturesque houses contrasting agreeably with the 
aaked mountain-walls of the background behind it. The 
a ief of the village, Hassan Beg, was a typical old man ; 
c rcrninded me of a worn - out professor, being extra- 
ordinarily absent-minded, and yet constantly talking away 
'a half-tones to himself. At Kandalaksh, a village a short 
istance lower down, we put up at the min-bashi s (chief- 
^^ar of a thousand men), and established ourselves on 
to 
. cl Liiousana menj, anu esid.uusuc'-i 
IS balcony, where all the dignitaries of the place came 
^ 3 -y us their respects. 
. ag lies only a mile or a little more from the Yarkand- 
aria. The river is known there simply as Daria (the 
or also as Tongning-dariasi (the Tong River). 
River), 
c names Raskan and Serafshan are only applied to the 
apper portion of the stream. In summer the river is so 
pollen that it cannot be crossed by any means whatever. 
Cnee the inhabitants only travel to Yarkand in the 
autumn and winter. The journey takes a man on horse- 
about three days. Traders from Yarkand visit the 
a cy with clothes, sugar, tea, and other commodities. 
^ assan Beg and the villagers thought we might possibly 
the river; but the old man I ' - - 
fo f ’■^^at everythin 
errying us across in the morning, 
cptember 23rd. When we came down to the river, I 
^as astonished to find that the side-valley of Tong was 
cader than the principal valley upon which it debouched. 
; but the old man begged me to remain 
:g might be prepared 
