sale in the afternoon. This, when lit up with Chinese lamps, must have
presented a stirring sight, very similar to a country fair in our
country. Sir Douglas Forsyth does not tell us whether under Yakoob Beg
it was customary to illuminate this bazaar with the gaudy lamps of the
Chinese, or whether our imagination of such a scene must be referred
back to the days of the old domination.

Nor were these harmonious relations confined to the lower people and
ourselves alone. Their rulers set an example that all strove to imitate.
Between the officers of the mission and the Dadkhwah something more
cordial than a chivalrous sentiment of guest towards host sprang up, and
was heartily reciprocated; while Hadji Torah smoothed down all
difficulties by his ready tact and never-failing resource. The latter
did not remain the whole time of the three weeks that the mission
remained at Yarkand, but set out for the capital, in order to put the
Ameer _au courant_ with English affairs, and the exact objects our
authorities had before them with regard to his country.

Mahomed Yunus had placed at the disposal of the mission a considerable
number of the carts of the country, which proved very serviceable. These
carts are strongly built, with two wheels, six feet in diameter, and are
drawn by four or six ponies, as the case may be. They are not permitted
to carry a greater weight than ten hundredweight, but with that load it
is quite customary for them to perform journeys of twenty and
twenty-five miles a day. In carts of this kind the heavier baggage was
carried from Yarkand to Kashgar, while the members of the mission with a
lighter camp followed on some days afterwards. While mentioning these
carts, so superior to the Indian modes of conveyance, we will remark
that they also are used as omnibuses and stage coaches. They ply
frequently between the fort and city of Kashgar, a distance of five
miles, and they are also used as a stage coach doing the whole distance
from Yarkand to Kashgar in five stages. But no company, with its
regulations and bye-laws has a monopoly of this branch of locomotion,
and there is a tariff fixed by law which cannot be departed from.

On the 28th of November the mission set out from Yarkand, and for a
certain distance high officials, by order of the Dadkwah, bore it
company to speed it on its journey. From Yarkand to Yangy Hissar the
country was equally prosperous-looking, but there was much desert land
as well