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0255 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / Page 255 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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including those who stay only a month or two, is about two
thousand a year. The annual output of gold is only twenty-
six thousand dollars, or thirteen dollars per man. Thirteen
dollars a year does not seem to be a sum calculated to en-
courage lavish expenditure. Nevertheless, the uncertainties
of the miner's life and the possibilities of sudden wealth
lead to the same extravagance in Central Asia as in western
America. The bazaar is surprisingly large and busy con-
sidering the size of the population, and it is filled with
idlers. As I walked about to take photographs, I counted
a hundred and twenty men and boys following close be-
hind me, and there were certainly fifty more sitting idle
in places which we passed. I did not count the baby which
lay bound in its cradle in front of a closed shop.
As we rode into Sorgak, I was surprised to see our honest
friend, Yusup Beg of Keriya, coming out to meet us. It
appeared that he was Beg of Sorgak, and had come a three
days' journey from home simply to see that I was comfort-
able. When I wished to give him a present, he told Ibrahim
that his sole desire was that I should write his name in my
"deftar," or note-book, and give him a letter to put in his
box. We were told that he was very unwilling to become
Beg of Sorgak. What did he want of such a place? He
was old, and had held much higher positions. The Chinese
amban of Keriya, however, though a most corrupt man
himself, insisted upon having an honest man in charge of
the gold-fields. The natives, as well as the Chinese, appre-
ciated his honesty. When it became known that he had
been appointed Beg of Sorgak, seventy families from Kapa,
a gold-mining town a hundred and fifty miles to the east,