KARGALIK TO KHOTAN 745 
tughs (offerings of rags) set up to indicate that there was 
a masar (saint’s tomb) close by. 
At the eastern end of the ridge were some wooden 
houses, the largest of them having a projecting roof 
supported on pillars. The masar, one of the most 
attractive I have seen anywhere, was called Imam Khakir, 
after the saint who lies buried within it ; though the 
name Kum - rabat - pashahim (My King’s Serai in the 
Sand), or simply Kaptar-masar (the Pigeon Masar) is 
more commonly employed. For the peculiar feature 
about this holy tomb was that it afforded shelter and 
food to several thousand beautiful pigeons, of every 
possible variety of colour — yellow, white, brown, green, 
speckled, and so on. The rooms inside the serai were 
provided with an earthen floor, raised benches, and 
enclosures and perches in the walls ; and these apart- 
ments the traveller shares with the pigeons, some of 
which are, maybe, sitting on their eggs or brooding 
their young, whilst others fly in and out of the narrow 
door - openings or window apertures. Outside, on the 
ridge of the roof, on the rafters, on the eaves, every- 
where, they sit in close, serried rows, like beads on a 
rosary. In every direction you hear their cheerful cooings. 
The gentle birds betray not the slightest alarm at the 
presence of the strangers who share the house-room with 
them. 
Fragments of skin were hung from poles fixed to the 
gables of some of the houses, to scare away the birds of 
prey. The lengherchi ox “custodian of the serai” assured 
me, that if a hawk or other bird of prey dared to molest 
one of these sacred pigeons, it would instantly fall down 
dead. He had recently seen an instance of it himself A 
hawk seized a pigeon ; but was forced by some unseen 
pow’er to drop its prey, and then the next Instant the 
marauder fell dead. 
It is an ancient custom, that travellers who journey past 
the tomb, bring with them a supply of maize, however 
little, to give to the pigeons ; a gift which is likew'ise 
regarded as an offering made to the shrine of the saint. 
II. -6 
