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0260 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 / Page 260 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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15o   STAY AT KÖK-YAR

CH. XII

entertainment and paying into each man's hand appropriate compensation.

I found them very interesting, in their physical features, which closely approach the Homo Alpinus type of the Iranian tribes of the Pamir region. Most of them were fine-looking men, the frequency of fair eyes and hair, and other racial characteristics clearly showing that Alpine isolation had preserved in them direct representatives of that Iranian stock which in ancient times appears to have extended right through to Khotan and even farther east.

But their alleged distinct language proved a fiction, or at least a thing of the past ; for neither the offer of reward, nor the fear of further enquiries I might be induced to conduct in their own hills, would induce my Pakhpu visitors to acknowledge that they knew aught but their ' Taghlik ' or hill Turki dialect. They were hugely amused when I soon spotted the chief features of their faces, etc., which distinguish them from the people of the plain oases ; for with a little practice I was able to pick out any Pakhpu from the midst of local villagers who crowded to watch the proceedings. Later on came the turn for the ' Kök-yarliks ' ; and as after a time I could leave the specific measurements which take up most time to the care of my handy corporal, who like most Indians loved a mechanical task and tabular statements to fill up, my collection of ' heads ' soon assumed a respectable size,—in the packet of slips which record them and in the photographs taken.

Two days before the date fixed for resuming my journey towards Khotan there arrived a long-expected Dak from Kashgar, with the postal accumulations of nearly a month. Then I had the satisfaction to see the last of my book tasks done, down to the exhaustive Introduction which was to mark their successful conclusion. But how grateful I felt to those distant friends who were ready with unfailing devotion to assure the careful reproduction of all this writing ! By July 24th camels and ponies turned up from their holiday, and when all my things, which had been allowed to ' spread themselves ' during this fortnight, had once more been compressed into mule trunks, I was free to return the attentions of my Chinese friends of Kök-yar and