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a variety of bright colours. Formerly most of this coarse silk was used up at Khutan in the weaving of a strong partir,coloured material from which robes were made, and much, too, was used in the manufacture of carpets, for which the place has long enjoyed celebrity.
The carpet manufacture of Khutau is of a kind peculiar to the place. The ordinary wool carpets are of very good quality, and the patterns and colours are simple, and combined with harmonious effect; but they don't approach the carpets of Persia, such as those of Ghayn and Kirmansha,h, either in the elaborateness of design, the superior soft quality of the wool, the excelling fineness of the dyes, or in general evidence of artistic skill. The special manufacture of the place, however, has excelling qualities peculiar to itself. The silk carpets are highly prized, and in the time of the Chinese were much in demand, but they are not now made, except to special order. Another kind of carpet, in which the wool pattern stands on a ground of gold or silver, formed of three-plait threads, is an admirable novelty, and wears a look of superb richness which fit it for the king's chamber. The weight of this carpet is surprising, and its cost heavy in proportion. Its disadvantage is that the metals are apt to tarnish in damp weather and mar the effects of its proper brilliance. One of these carpets was spread in the residency prepared for us at Kashghar. It had evidently seen much rough service, yet even in its worn state it commanded admiration. For the rest, the manufactures of Kâshghar may be considered as merely the handicraft trades which are found to flourish amongst all organized societies of civilized men. A strong coarse cotton cloth called khc£m is woven in all the western settlements, though more abundantly in Khutan. It is the dress of the common people, and for winter wear is padded with cotton and quilted. Much of it is exported to Khokand and Badakhshan and Thibet. The loom used resembles that-seen in the Punjab. In Yarkand boots and shoes are made, and hides are tanned, for the supply of the markets of Khutan and Kasl►ghar. Very good saddlery and harness, as used in this country, are also made here and at Aksû. Felts are made at Khutan, and also amongst the Kirghiz.
Furs, mostly sheep-skins, trimmed with imported otter skins from Russia, and ibex skins from Kashmir, are cured in all the towns and made up into cloaks, &c., for the home trade. But most of the furs got into the country are exported to Russian territory. A kind of buff leather, of which are made the loose " overall" trowsers called shim, is prepared at Yarkand and also at Aksû. That made in the latter city is the best, and its excellence is attributed to the superior quality of the pomegranate rind used in the process of curing. Ironsmiths and carpenters, each in their own line, turn out a number of articles of domestic use, and they occupy a prominent place in the bazar shops.
Inhabitants.—From previous remarks it will have been gathered that the inhabitants of Kashghar consist of a mixture of tribes or races which belong to one or other of those two great principal families of the Central Asia continent, namely the Turk and the Tartar.
Of the many new sights and scenes that meet the eye of the traveller in K6shghar, none more fixes his attention than the singular varieties of physiognomy and race type that are crowded together in the cities ; a feature which distinguishes them in a marked manner from the inhabitants of the rural districts. Yet, with all the variation in stature, build, and facial lineament, he sees there is a common semblance pervading the mass which declares the natural affinity of its constituents, and no less distinctly warns him that he has come amongst a different people to those he has left behind him in India.
In the first place, he finds there is not a black skin, nor even a dark complexion amongst them. Then he observes that their features are different modifications of one and the same type, and as different from that of the Hindu, as is their clothing from that of the natives of India. On further acquaintance he learns that their language is of an entirely separate stock; that their manners and morals are of a stamp diverse to the ethical system obtaining south of the passes ; and that their mental qualities are of a peculiar character too. He notices that they are averse to sustained physical exertion, or to the endurance of toil, and everywhere sees the horse and the ass saving all the labour cf walking and carrying burdens; whilst a variety of mechanical aids meet him at almost every turn, in witness to the ingenuity of the devices adopted to reduce the operations of necessary work to a minimum. He is struck by the punctilious ceremonies that regulate their society; and by the universal degradation of their amatory
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