CHAP. x.] OLD TURKESTAN ART-WARE 167
indigenous art products, queer odds and ends of Chinese work turned up—pottery of evident merit and age, and beautiful pieces of embroidery from the Far East. The rich Begs of old days must have looked truly gorgeous in their dresses of state, heavy red or blue silk Chogas emblazoned with artistic designs of pure Chinese style. Fine carpets of Turkoman and Khorasan make indicated that importations from the West had been equally frequent. Thus Yarkand shows also in this respect that it has been a point where, since early Muhammadan times, Chinese influences have mingled with the culture of Iran and Turkestan. It is Khotan, however, which seems to have been the place of origin and the true home for most of the indigenous industries. Curiously enough, almost all the people who brought me these delightfully varied specimens of old art-ware were Kashmiris. The pedlars' instinct, which is so conspicuous in the urban population of the valley, has evidently not been extinguished by emigration across the mountains. So I often felt as if I wére besieged again in the camping-grounds of • Srinagar by the voluble and irrepressible agents of Kashmirian craftsmen.
Liu-Darin (` Darin ' represents the local pronunciation of the Chinese title ` Ta jen'), the Amban of Yarkand, was absent on tour when I arrived. But he soon returned, and after the due preliminaries had been arranged, I made my call at his Yamen. I found Liu-Darin a very amiable and intelligent old man. Conversation through a not over-intelligent interpreter is not the way to arrive at a true estimate of character. But somehow Liu-Darin's manners and looks impressed me very favourably. On the next day I received the return visit of the old administrator, and found occasion to show him the Si-yu-ki of Hiuen-Tsiang and to explain what my objects were in searching for the sacred sites which the great pilgrim had visited about Khotan, and for the remains of the old settlements overwhelmed by the desert. It was again. reassuring for me to find how popular the figure of the
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