THROUGH ASIA 
746 
The corn is stored up, so that the pigeons are always fed 
regularly ; for the tomb stands in the midst of a perfectly 
sterile region, where not a blade of anything grows, nor 
do the pigeons ever fly away from the place. We brought 
a bag of maize for them from Pialma. The men put the 
bag down in the courtyard. 1 took a porcelain bowl and 
scattered the corn all over the ground, as far as I could 
fling it. What a flapping of wings, what a whistling of 
the air, what joyful cooings! The courtyard seemed to 
be alive with pigeons ; they settled down like a veritable 
cloud. Some of them even came and perched on my 
shoulder and on my head ; others went and helped 
themselves at the bag and out of the bowl. I was 
obliged to stand perfectly still, lest I should trample on 
them. They did not betray the smallest trace of fear. 
I stayed there an hour enjoying the unusual and 
charming spectacle. Then, having drunk from the ad- 
jacent well, which came to within 6 ^ feet of the surface, 
whilst its water had a temperature of 35°9 Fahr. {2°2 C.), 
we continued our journey towards the well-cultivated and 
thickly inhabited tract of Savvah ; a place that with its 
dependent villages is administered by a min-bashi (chief 
of a thousand men) and eleven yuz-bashis (chiefs of one 
hundred men). That night we slept in the village of 
Milleh, the yuz-bashi of which exercised authority over 
260 families. 
On January 5th there only remained one day’s journey 
to Khotan. The road improved as we drew nearer to 
the town. We travelled along a magnificent avenue of 
poplars, fifty feet broad, which ran through a bright and 
varied landscape of villages, cultivated fields, and irrigation 
canals. We passed through numerous large villages, e.£-. 
Kum-arik, Sheidan, Gulbagh, Ak-serai, Chinakla (which 
possessed a masar shaded by a poplar 280 years old), 
Supa, Shuma, Borasan, Besin, and Tosanla. Then we 
came to the gate of Yanghi-shahr (the New Town), and 
immediately afterwards entered the principal bazaar of 
Khotan. Early in the morning of the same day the 
amban sent his interpreter, together with the aksakal of 
