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The cazi's fee amounts to no more than one tanga, though much larger sums are paid by those who can afford it. The ceremonial of marriage is given in detail elsewhere ; it may be curtailed to the reading of the nika by the cazi, in the presence of three or four witnesses.

There appears to be no difficulty attending marriage between men and women of different ranks in life; nor does a woman who has been the wife of a rich man, and has obtained a divorce, object to marriage with a man of small means. Two wives represent the average number; but the limit of four is not even strictly adhered to. The ceremony of divorce amounts to no more than the affixing of the cazi's seal to the talaknamas, which are kept one by the man, and one by the woman, in proof of their release from the marriage tie. The divorce may be with mutual consent, or by the man, who declares his intention before the cazi. By the woman, the discharge may be obtained as follows : she declares her intention publicly to her husband three times of leaving his house; if he is willing, or if he hastily says go" three times, the woman then goes to the cazi and claims dismissal, on which the cazi calls for the husband and enquires of him whether he has given her her divorce.

A more simple method for the wife to adopt is to present herself before the cazi weeping, and taking off the shoes (which come over the feet of her boots) to place them turned over before the cazi. This is taken to mean an accusation against the husband of his having committed an unnatural offence against her ; no other evidence is required, the man is sent for and the talaknamas are ordered. The smallest fee on a divorce is half a tanga. It is a matter of pride with many women to have been the wife of several husbands; this, however, may be said to be chiefly the fashion with a certain set of women in the towns : the general population having more settled homes than such customs imply.

After divorce the children are usually divided, the boys going with the father, and the daughters with the mother. Subsistence may be ordered for the wife if she be pregnant, or is suckling a child, or a present may be made by the husband, or a fixed sum be paid down. Marriage is possible to the woman three months after the divorce. These rules are those of the Shariat; also, if a husband divorce his wife, and regret having done so, so as to seek to marry her again, he cannot do so without her having contracted another marriage.

The above customs imply more than the usual freedom allowed to women in Mahomedan countries being the rule, and, in Kâshghar, women mix freely in the daily life of their husbands, and are to be seen on all occasions sharing in their pursuits, for the most part unveiled, except when some representative of authority is passing. They are admirable riders, being as familiar with the saddle as the men.

Dress and Ornaments.—Owing to the nature of the climate, the summer and winter costume differ in proportion to the opposite extremes of the seasons. In the former it consists of light gauze materials, or silks of very bright and staring colours for the rich, and of common white cotton cloth of home-manufacture for the poor. In winter it consists of warm furs, and padded silks for the rich, and of sheepskin cloaks and padded cotton robes, usually dyed of a drab or ash grey colour, for the poor. All classes, and both sexes wear boots, which in winter are lined with a casing of thick felt, and all, too, put on two, three, or up to six robes and trowsers one over the other. Men in travelling wear loose, baggy overalls of buff leather called shim. Sometimes the robes are tucked into the shim, like a shirt into the trowsers, and the effect is provocative of merriment to the stranger, though it is surprising how the arrangement frees the rotund and ungainly forms from the encumbrance of their multifarious flowing robes.

The dress of the men consists of the following costumes, Mc, a quilted cap or bonnet, generally of silk material, or embroidered or printed cotton; bdshlic, a hood with long lappets worn in travelling, generally of woollen material, sometimes of fur or sheepskin ; dopa, an embroidered skull-cap, quilted and padded, of silk or printed cotton ; talpac, a fur cap, generally of lamb's fleece, edged with otter or other fur, and sometimes covered with velvet or brocade ; dastkr, a shawl turban, only worn by the wealthy and nobility ; calla a muslin turban of pure white, only worn by the priesthood and soldiers and officers of Government; sarpech, an ordinary turban worn by merchants clerks, &c. The common people and peasantry all wear the Tartar cap, called talpac ; and it is said, are prohibited from wearing the turban ; kômlak