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THROUGH ASIA 
from West Turkestan) only drink well-water, they do not 
suffer from the disfiguring tumour. 
The following legend is current with regard to this 
disease. When Saleh Peygambar was travelling through 
Yarkand, certain thieves stole his camel, and cut its throat, 
and left the carcass lying on the bank of the Yarkand- 
daria. Then the holy man solemnly cursed the entire 
neighbourhood, swearing that the inhabitants should be 
tormented with boghak to the very end of time. Ever 
since then the river water has been polluted by the dead 
body of the camel. 
There is a colony of some forty Andijan (West Turk- 
estan) merchants in the city, who import cloth, caps, 
khalats, sugar, matches, and so forth, and export wool, 
felt carpets, and other native commodities. They make 
large profits, and dwell together in a fine serai or guest- 
house, which was built twenty-six years ago. But neither 
the people of Yarkand nor the Chinese give them a good 
word. It is easy to tell them on the street, by reason of 
their neat attire, and their dignified bearing ; and their 
houses are distinguishable by their cleanly rooms and well- 
kept courtyards. The Afghans and Hindu merchants like- 
wise have their own separate serais. 
The city is divided into twenty - four mdhdlldJis or 
quarters, each governed by a yuz-bashi (chief of a hundred 
men), who has two or three on-bashis (chief of ten men) 
under him, and sometimes more. Besides these officials, 
there are a great number of begs, whose duty it is to 
maintain order in and around Yarkand. 
On December 23rd we were ferried across the Yarkand- 
daria. Although it was the middle of winter, the river 
had a volume of 3280 cubic feet in the second, or a 
decrease of 2120 cubic feet in the second as compared 
with the measurement I made at Kusherab in the end 
of September. The entire district as far as Posgam was 
watered by irrigation -canals branching off from the right 
bank. Beyond Posgam the fields were irrigated from the 
Pisnab. 
Travelling through continuously well-inhabited, well- 
