There exists however a great difference between the objects for which the sheep are bred and reared in these two parts of the country. The flocks that are grazed in the vicinity of the villages are for the most part intended for killing, whereas those that feed beside the rivers are principally kept for the sake of their wool. This is especially the case in the district below Schah-jar and in the forests of the Chotan-darja. The inhabitants of East Turkestan live for the most part upon the products of agriculture, especially rice and wheat, vegetables and fruit, with mutton. This last in fact forms an essential item in their ordinary bill of fare. I have no grounds upon which to estimate what the consumption is; but if the population amounts in round numbers to two millions, then the sheep will probably be ten times as many, and this estimate is certainly not excessive when we take into account the sheep which are kept for the sake of their wool. One shepherd family is able to look after some Boo sheep, and if we suppose, as I have already done, that the family averages 4 individuals, then each member of the family, be it only a little boy or a girl, has about 200 sheep to look after. This computation again, though it is equally as arbitrary as the others I have made, works out at a total of i oo,000 shepherds for the whole of East Turkestan.
I have already stated that in the calculations which I have given above, I have deliberately left out the country of Lop. By this I mean all those parts of East .Turkestan which the natives call Lop and the inhabitants of which designate themselves Lopliks, i. e. the belt of vegetation beside the lowermost Tarim from Al-katik-
Hedi n, ,journey in Central Asia. II. 77
IIIF Color HighRes
