164 YARKAND AND KARGHALIK [CHAP. X.
of five or six days, in order to make use of the opportunities which Yarkand offers for the collection of anthropological materials and old art ware ; but several circumstances helped in extending it. I had been assured in Kashgar that Yarkand was the place where I could most conveniently arrange for the money needed on my further journey. There I was to find the Indian traders eager to take Government Supply Bills and my cheques and convert them into cash. Unfortunately, those who needed drafts on Indian Treasuries had already started on their way to Ladak, and the remaining Khattris had taken the opportunity to remit with them whatever ready money they had cleared by the sale of their goods. So it was no easy matter to find a market for my drafts, and seeing that only a portion of the money I needed could be raised at a reasonable rate, I was ultimately obliged to despatch a messenger to Kashgar. Until my messenger had returned with the desired cash in silver and gold a start appeared scarcely desirable.
Another discovery made soon after niy arrival, and equally annoying, was that two of the camels and two of the ponies had developed sore backs, which needed cure. The fact had before been carefully screened from my knowledge, with the natural result that the evil had got worse than it need have. So nothing less than a week's rest would do to make the transport fit again, and accordingly the camels, after careful examination and dressing of sores, were sent to have an easy time grazing in a wooded tract, a day's march southwards. The experience was not thrown away on me. Thereafter inspections of the animals were held almost daily, and those responsible for their loading learned to understand that the hire of transport in place of animals rendered temporarily unfit would be recovered from their own pay.
It was lucky that my Yarkand quarters were of such delightful spaciousness, for from the first day of my stay there was no want of visitors. Yarkand is the great com-
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