Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/84

Rh We were informed that the present inhabitants on the Tarim originally lived at Lake Lob; but that a hundred years ago, owing to a scarcity of fish, and Kalmuk raids, they became dispersed along the banks of the Tarim. We could not ascertain whether, in earlier times, this river's banks were inhabited; one thing, however, is certain, that fugitives, and perhaps exiles, from different parts of Eastern Turkestan, were continually intermixing with the settlers from Lake Lob. Hence the Tarimtsi of the present day, originally doubtless of the Aryan race, have a curiously mixed type of features, and among them may be seen the physiognomy of Sarts, Kirghizes, and even Tangutans; now and then a thoroughly European face will attract your attention, or one characteristic of the Mongolian.

These natives are in general all remarkable for the pallor of their complexions, for their hollow chests and weak frames. The men are of average height, many even tall; the women (whom we rarely saw) are of smaller stature.

If we happened to enter one of their dwellings—the fair sex, married and single, invariably took to flight, disappearing like mice through the crevices of their reed walls.

Our companion, Zaman Beg, having had more opportunities of seeing and studying the ladies on the Tarim, spoke in terms the reverse of flattering of their beauty. One fair one he did except from