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THE YABKAND AND KASHGAB. 61
congealed on the surface, and to a height of 17,000 feet hot springs are found
encircled by deposits of lime and an outer rim of frozen water. For spaces several
square miles in extent the ground is pierced by little funnel-shaped fissures
4 feet deep and 8 in diameter, and nearly all quite regular. After the rains
some of these funnels throw up masses of mud and even boiling water. Lower
down the banks of the Kara-kash are broken by similar fissures, but with a saline
crust round the upper edge. These communicate with the river, which falls during
the frosty nights and rises during the day from the melting of the snows and ice.
The funnels are thus alternately filled and emptied every twenty-four hours, the
salt water of the Kara-ka?h leaving a saline deposit each time on the surface.
West of the Lower Kara-kash follow several streams which are lost in the
sands or in the Yashil-kul swamps, separated by a ridge of dunes from the Kara-
Fig. 22. THB TIAN-BHAN NAN-LU, FROM A CHINESE MAP.
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kash. These streams rise on the outer spurs of the Kuen-lun, which are covered
to a height of 11,000 feet with an argillaceous soil, probably of glacial origin. The
main route from India to Chinese Turkestan leads through the Sanju Pass
(16,800
feet) over these mountains, thereby avoiding the great bend described by the Karakash
towards the north-east after emerging on the plains.
THE YARKAND AND KASHGAR.
In the south-west corner of Chinese Turkestan rises the Yarkand-daria, also often
called the Zarafslum, or " Auriferous," flic longest, and probably the most copious,
of all the Tarim affluents. Over one-fourth of the whole population are concen-