944 
THROUGH ASIA 
after that I was cut off from all communication with 
Europe. I should hear nothing more from home until I 
reached Peking in the P'ar East. 
d he ^ next few days we rode along the foot of the 
mountains, through a country that was beautifully fresh 
and green, and through the villages of Hasha, Chakkar, 
and Nura, and so arrived at Dcirt Imam Sebulla, near 
^ ulur. It had originally been my intention to strike up 
into the Tibetan plateau from this last-mentioned place; 
but that I found to be impossible, because the narrow, 
difficult mountain - path was completely blocked by the 
unusual quantity of water in the Keriya-daria. We had 
therefore no other choice but to go back to the oreat 
caravan-road. We reached it at the town of Keriya,"’and 
stayed there four days ; and there we crossed the river. 
Thence it took us three days, by way of Oy-tograk and 
Ovraz, to reach Niya, a little town of 500 uylik (houses), 
with a beg, two yuz-bashis, and four on-bashis (chief over 
ten men). The oasis is supplied with water from the 
Ullug-sai or Niya-daria ; but in case the river dries up 
there are reservoirs to fall back upon. They are, however,’ 
quickly exhausted, and for the greater part of the year 
the people are dependent upon wells, which are thirty 
to forty feet deep and contain good, fresh water. The 
oasis is not therefore suited for agriculture, and the 
gardens do not look so flourishing as in the other oases. 
Niya derives such importance as it possesses solely from 
the fact, that two days’ journey to the north, at the point 
where the river loses itself in the sand, is the tomb of 
the saint, Imam Jafer Sadik, which every year, especially 
in the latter part of the summer and autumn, is visited 
by from 3000 to 4000 pilgrims. And as at Ordan 
Padshah, it is upon their gifts in natura, and the money 
t ey^ give, that the five sheikhs and temple servants 
subsist. In this way the shrine has become possessed 
of about 4000 sheep, which graze in the forests of the 
Niya-daria. The river, after forming a small lake which 
supplies the place with water, loses itself in the sand a 
short distance north of the tomb. 
