Through deserts and oases of central Asia

We are indebted to Mr. Bohlin of the Swedish Mission in Chinese Turkestan, and to _Khan Sahib_, Iftikhar Ahmad of the British Consulate-General, Kashgar, for much assistance; an...

The cities are called _Taskent_[1] and _Caskayre_,[1] and the people that warre against _Taskent_ are called _Cassaks_[1] of the law of _Mahomet_, and they which warre with the...

Farghana is a country of small extent, but abounding in grain and fruits; and it is surrounded with hills on all sides except on the west.... Andijan is the capital. The distric...

For stalking about the streets (of Leh) or seated in silent rows along the bazaar, were men of a different type from those around. Their large white turbans, their beards, their...

As soon as we had settled down at Kashgar we were anxious to explore the city and its environs, and Mr. Bohlin proved an invaluable guide in our various expeditions.

It is doubtful if these Central Asian towns _ever_ change. Their dull mud walls, mud houses, mud mosques look as if they would remain the same for ever. In most climates they wo...

Here, though the mountains are higher, the glaciers, owing to the small snowfall, are much more puny, while below there is a picture of utter desolation that would be hard to ma...

The Pamirs are both fertile and barren, both habitable and desolate, both smiling and repellent according to the point of view from which they are regarded. They are among the d...

We left the Russian Pamirs by a pass that seemed, when we reached its summit, to have an almost interminable descent, as we saw miles of a stony track stretching out below our f...

These facts show that the modern Yarkandees are not pure Tartars like the Kirghiz ... but rather Tartarized Aryans, if I may so express myself.--ROBERT SHAW, _Visits to High Tar...

... The view was boundless, there were no traces either of man or horse, and in the night the demons and goblins raised fire-lights as many as the stars; in the day time the dri...

There is no article of traffic more valuable than lumps of a certain transparent kind of marble, which we, from poverty of language, usually call jasper. These marbles are calle...

Le Turkestan est pour les Chinois une position stratégique et un excellent débouché pour l’aristocratie mandarine qui ne trouve plus assez de places disponibles dans la vieille...

L’histoire des Turos occidentaux est comme la clef de voûte oû convergent et se rencontrent pendant quelques années les histoires particulières de grandes nations qu’on regarde...

Cascar constituted a Kingdom in former days, but now is subject to the Great Kaan. The people worship Mohamed. There are a good number of towns and villages, but the greatest an...

By way of introduction to this chapter some reference to the Khanates of Central Asia is called for. Half a century ago little or no accurate information on the subject was obta...

La latitude assez basse du Turkestan chinois combinée avec son altitude considérable, la sécheresse de son atmosphère et ses saisons nettement tranchées rendent le pays propre à...

Straight and slender-waisted are the maids of Kashgar, Short, with sack-like figures, are the maids of Yangi Hissar. A goitre above and fat below are the maids of Yarkand. Arran...

Do you know the world’s white roof-tree--do you know that windy rift Where the baffling mountain-eddies chop and change? Do you know the long day’s patience, belly-down on froze...