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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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carrying country produce into town. Donkeys only were used
for this, and one only sees a few travelling carts used for long
journeys. Arrived at Bai at 4.50 p.m. (120 li). It is a poor place,
built on the right bank of a small river. It contains, perhaps,
three thousand inhabitants, but the districts round are very
populous, the cultivated land extending eight or ten miles to
the north, and five or six miles to the south. Three-quarters
of a mile from the river-bank, and separated from the town,
are two square fort-like looking places, which I was informed
were mandarins' quarters, and not barracks. There is a large
yamen just outside the west side of the town, which is not
surrounded by a wall.
Weather fine during day, but a heavy thunderstorm came
on at 7 p.m.
On August 7 we arrived at Aksu, the largest town we
had yet seen. It had a garrison of two thousand soldiers,
and a native population of about twenty thousand, beside
the inhabitants of the surrounding district. There were large
bazaars and several inns—some for travellers, others for
merchants wishing to make a prolonged stay to sell goods.
A man will bring goods from some distance, engage a room
in one of these inns or serais, and remain there for some
months, or even a year or two, till he has sold his goods.
He will then buy up a new stock, and start off to another
town. It is in these serais that one meets the typical travelling
merchant of Central Asia; and often have I envied these
men their free, independent, wandering life, interspersed with
enough of hardships, of travel, and risks in strange countries
to give it a relish. They are always interesting to talk to:
intelligent, shrewd, full of information. Naturally they are well-
disposed to Englishmen, on account of the encouragement we
give to trade; but they are very cosmopolitan, and do not
really belong to any country except that in which they are at
the time living. And this habit of rubbing up against men of
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