AT KORLA AND KARA-SHAHR 863 
produce wool, sheepskins, fox-skins, cotton, silk, and rice, 
all of which are exported to Ak-su and Dural. Other 
productions of the same district are wheat, maize, barley, 
pomegranates, and a quantity of other fruits. A sweet 
yellow pear, called ndsbet, which melts on the tongue, 
is famous throughout the whole of East Turkestan. The 
wheat is sown in March, and is ripe four months later ; 
but in those villages which .suffer from a deficiency of 
water, the wheat is sown in the autumn. Rice is sown 
in April, and the harvest takes place two months after- 
wards. 
Korla ranks in the matter of size with Maral-bashi, 
Yanghi-hissar, Guma, and Shah-yar. Its bazaar was 
nothing out of the ordinary ; but the town occupied a 
splendid situation beside the crystal stream, whose little 
eddies circled round and round underneath its small 
bridges. Building-sites within the town being rather 
restricted, many of the houses have been built on piles 
at the margin of the river. Several of them were quite 
picturesque, and through chinks in the floor you could 
see the blue-green current gliding along like oil under- 
neath. The temperature was only 41° Fahr. (5° C.), 
nevertheless a dozen urchins were swimming and 
splashing about in it, and letting themselves be carried 
down by the current. I was told that every man in Korla 
can swim, and during the hot season they cool themselves 
every day in the fresh cool river. 
