THE RETURN TO KHOTAN 
923 
From that place there are two routes to Khotan. By 
the northern road, through the desert, the route Marco 
Polo seems to have chosen, Khotan can be reached in 
ten days ; but as it is almost entirely unpopulated, and 
at that season of the year the water in the wells was 
salt, and the gnats an intolerable plague, we preferred 
the southern route, which skirts the Kwen-lun Mountains, 
and is on an average 3000 or 4000 feet higher than the 
other route. By that road the air was fresh, the climate 
altogether delightful, and the scenery richly varied. The 
districts we travelled through were inhabited by a Turki 
stem or tribe called Taghliks (Mountaineers), whose liveli- 
hood is derived from the keeping of domestic animals, and 
also, though to a much smaller extent, from agriculture. 
This road took us four days longer than the northern road; 
but that was comparatively speaking a trifle. 
Our first stage was to the gold-mines of Kopa. Here 
the native inhabitants seek their fortune in a \mry primh 
tive fashion. The auriferous rock lies at a maximum 
depth of 300 feet. To get down to it, the miners dig a 
shaft {kail), and at the bottom of the shaft excavate 
narrow tunnels, like mole-runs, in a direction parallel to 
an old river-bed. This however would deserve a chapter 
to itself ; and I must hasten on further across the Kirk-.sai 
(Forty River-beds), through whose deep channels the 
mountain water, that comes from the melting snows, 
travels on its way to the glowing furnace of the Gobi 
or Takla-makan. Thence we rode across Sourg-ak, where 
also gold occurs, and so down into the lowlands and the 
desert, finding an excellent stopping- place in the little oasis 
of Yaz-yulgun (the Summer Tamarisk). In Keriya I was 
warmly welcomed by my Kashgar friend, Tsen Daloi, who 
had recently been appointed amban of the town. 
VVe reached Khotan on May 27th, strong and well, but 
tired, and with the liveliest anticipations of the rest we 
were about to enjoy. 
