CHAPTER XIII
ALONG THE FOOT OF THE KUN-LUN
ON the morning of July 25th I said farewell to Kök-yar and its obliging people just as the dawn broke. I had thought to have taken leave of my ` Ta-lao-yes,' too, the evening before. But, lo, as I approached the outlying farm of tJ j melük Langar, where the valley turns to barren Dasht, I found them awaiting me with a farewell Dastarkhan of tea and eggs, spread out on red felts in orthodox fashion. Considering how averse Chinamen of easy circumstances seem to be from early rising, I was pleasantly touched by this final mark of goodwill and politeness. In return I wished my Chinese hosts the speediest progress on the official ladder up to the Futai-ship of the ` New Dominion.'
Instead of the high road leading from Karghalik along the edge of the desert, I had decided to make my way to Khotan by the little-known route which passes through the barren outer hills of the Kun-lun, and would give me a chance of fresh surveys. Our first march was easy and
pleasantly varied. After surmounting the bleak con-
glomerate ridge eastwards near the little Mazar of Saskan Khoja, there spread out before me the fertile debouchure of the valleys of Yül-arik and Ushak-bashi, with a cluster of long-stretched oases along the streams which are fed by the snowy range about the Karlik Dawan. As we crossed one fertile strip after another, Yül-arik, Rowush, Yawash, and Ushak-bashi, I feasted my eyes on beautiful groves of fruit-trees and rich fields between. Yül-arik and the neighbouring villages are famous for their apricots, melons, and walnuts. Even grapes ripen in sheltered places in spite of the elevation of about 5800 feet. Dastarkhans
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