it we found a couple of canoes, left there to maintain communication between the opposite banks. All the huts (satnza) in this part of the country are constructed of faggots of reeds, affixed to a framework of posts and beams, just as they are in the land of Lop. There is not a clay or adobe house (tarn-uj) to be seen anywhere. The highest dunes we observed during the day were at Jar-kum. Below this point an arm breaks away on the right for a short distance, and then re-enters the river again; still, such caprices are far less frequent on the part of this staid fifteen-year old stream than of the four-year old one. We now passed another inhabited homestead, Orosuning-uj; and then came to a miniature lake, Jantaklik-köl, nestling at the foot of the dunes. It owes it existence to a made canal, which, after filling it with water, is then dammed to prevent the fish escaping. Just below this, on the left bank, is a cemetery, here called mar-kat, each grave being marked by a pole with streamers (tugh). Near the cemetery is an empty and deserted homestead, the inhabitants of which were carried off eight years ago by small-pox (tschätschäk), and were buried close by. At Arelisch-jasluk-utturghan there is yet another large deserted homestead; this, as the name indicates, is only occupied in the summer; its people, natives of Arelisch, spend the winter in their village (mähallä) there.
Fig. I14. LEFT BANK OF THE RIVER OPPOSITE TO TOKUS-KUM.
A day's journey south of our camp was the bed of the Opghan-darja, now perfectly dry and filled with sand, so much so that, I am told, there is not a single pool of water to be found in it. It enters the Tarim at Arelisch. Kamber Schang-ja, who acted as my guide at this stage of my journey, declared, that he
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