726 
THROUGH ASIA 
caught the first glimpse of the new moon, which releases 
the faithful Mohammedan from the enforced fast of 
Ramadan. The hill stands just inside the city walls, 
which are thin, and crenelated, but in bad repair. They 
are built of sun-dried bricks, and undulate, with many 
bends, up and down the terraces which overlook the 
ancient bed of the river, but at the same time form a 
rough circle. Looking across the city from the top of 
the hill, you see an intricate mosaic of square and oblong 
house-roofs, with scarcely distinguishable narrow lanes 
winding between them. The only relief for the eye is 
afforded by the bazaars, gardens, and a few isolated 
willows. On the outside the walls are surrounded by a 
perfect labyrinth of cultivated fields, ravines, and irrigation- 
canals ; whilst towards the north-east the most conspicuous 
feature is the Yarkand-daria, creeping its sinuous course 
across the desert on the way to its far distant outfall into 
Lop-nor. 
Althouorh the citv gets its drinking-water from the river, 
the largest in Central Asia ; yet, by reason of pernicious 
management, the water is actually little better than poison. 
It is conducted from the river by means of canals, and is 
stored up in reservoirs inside the city. There it stands 
and stagnates, and becomes gradually polluted by every 
sort of refuse and impurity. These reservoirs or haitz are 
in fact nothing more nor less than centres of infection, and 
nurseries for the propagation of bacteria. The people 
bathe in them ; they wash their clothes in them, and 
abominably dirty some of them are ; they wash their 
dishes in them ; they toss into them the scraps that are 
left over from their meals ; they leave them unfenced and 
unprotected against all sorts of nuisances ; and yet this is 
the stuff they drink. To crown all, the reservoirs are only- 
replenished when the malodorous mud at the bottom 
begins to be exposed. 
One consequence of this gross neglect is an affliction 
called boghak, which attacks an extraordinarily^ large per- 
centage of the inhabitants of Yarkand. A sort of tumour 
shows itself on the front of the throat, generally upon 
