Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 211 (Color Image)

0211	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. VII.] A KIRGHIZ ENCAMPMENT. 173

divided into many branches, a mile wide in all,

the water in the deep channels being waist-

deep, and the next day arrived at Ush Turfan,

a picturesque little town at the foot of a rugged

hill, with a fort on its summit.

From here we passed through a country

cultivated at first, but afterwards relapsing into

the more or less barren condition which is

characteristic of the district. The sides of

the hills which bounded the valley we were

ascending were not, however, so utterly barren

as many we had passed. There was a quantity

of scrub and small bushes on them, and, higher

up, fine grassy slopes in places. At the end of

the march we reached a Kirghiz encampment

of twenty-two tents. Here were the first

Kirghiz I had met ; but most of the men were

with their flocks and herds, higher up on the

mountain-sides, and it was only the very old

and the very young that were left below with

what might be called the heavy camp equipage.

Having no tent of my own, and there being no

public inn, I was obliged to do as the people

of the country do, and seek the hospitality of

the inhabitants of the tents. This was, as

usual, readily given. We rode up to a tent,

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