horned cattle 15,00o, camels i,000 and sheep Ioo,000. Besides there are the Wang's herds: horses 7,000, horned cattle 4,000, camels 300 and sheep 50,00o.
The population of the towns is said to number about I,5oo houses in the bazaar and Laocheng and -400 in Huicheng. Both in the towns and the villages 5-6 persons can be calculated per household, but in the mountains no more than 3 or at most 4 adults. If this estimate is correct, the total population should be over 18,000. The majority are Sarts, but there are Chinese and Dungans not only in the Chinese town and bazaar, but also in some of the villages. Purely Chinese villages are probably not included in these calculations. The Chinese and Dungans are governed by the district mandarin on general principles, the Sarts exclusively by the Wang. The bazaar tax is the only one levied by the Chinese authorities without regard to nationality.
The taxes of the Sarts consist principally of labour, tillage, buildings, tending herds, coal mining, hunting etc. I was informed that wood, fodder and grain were only taken for the needs of passing Chinese officials and every three years 5o per cent of the annual sowing. The main articles of export are about 200,000 djin of wool at II —12 lan per 100 djin, about 5,000 sheep (Wang 2,00o) at 2 lan 6 t. for a 3-year old, sheepskins, furs, grain, 1 bag of wheat (of io poods) at 6 lan 5 t., fruit and some camel's-hair.
The bazaar contains 170 shops, 6 of the larger ones having a turnover of about 6,000 lan and the largest about 130,000 lan each. Russian goods are sold in 2 shops belonging to Russian subjects (one is owned by Muhamet Gazi's Ilkhamsjanoff at Urumchi and is run by two capable Tartars, Shai Alhmet and Muhamet Sultan Bagautinoff), 6 shops belonging to Chinese Sarts and 5 shops owned by Chinese. No Indian goods were to be seen and there were only small quantities of Chinese (and Japanese) goods in 4 shops.
The inhabitants differ considerably from the other Sarts in dress. Their clothes have a Chinese cut and Chinese cloth is used for preference. On great occasions the women
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