KHOTAN 
757 
when a good find is made. Most of the miners are 
Chinese ; though the Mohammedans also try their luck 
occasionally. Order is maintained by a beg. 
My stay in Khotan was pleasant in every way. That 
I obtained no news of the camel that was lost in the 
desert did not disturb me much, as I had everything 1 
needed in the way of equipment. My boxes were packed, 
and kept in a large room, in which a bright fire burned 
continually ; and my men were lodged in rooms just 
outside. I brought with me from Kashgar a certain 
Mirza Iskender in the capacity of secretary. With his 
help I collected, translated, and noted down during the 
journey the names of every place and every geographical 
feature, not only along our immediate route, but also as 
far away from it as my various informants’ knowledge 
extended, or I myself could glean data. Between Kashgar 
and Khotan I thus marked on my map over five hundred 
names, of which only a few of the most important were 
known to previous travellers. At Khotan we drew up a 
systematic map of the three hundred villages of the oasis, 
and of their situation with regard to the innumerable 
irrigation -canals, which are led from the Kara-kash and 
the Yurun-kash, and point northwards like fingers. 
This is a matter which is wont to be neglected by 
travellers pushing on in forced marches, but is a study 
destitute neither of interest nor of importance. In the 
first place, it affords excellent linguistic practice. Eight 
hundred names, each consisting as a rule of a noun with 
its qualifying word, for instance, Kara-kash (Black Jade), 
furnishes a very extensive vocabulary ; furthermore, the 
place-names are always characteristic, in that they give 
some idea of the products or the position of the place , 
finally, among eight hundred such names there are not 
improbably a few which by their mere sound involuntarily 
carry the mind back to a long-forgotten epoch, and thus 
point the way to important historical discoveries or ques- 
tions. 
In connection with this I must just say a word or 
two about the importance of asking questions. Personal 
