Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/274

246 eastern course for one or two days' journey reaches Saceram, and onwards for five days'journey more goes to Koucha, thence in ten or twelve days' journey to Karashuhr, the Black City, thence ten or twelve days' journey to Ooroomchoo, thence twelve days' journey to the city of Toorfan, Iskee, or Old Toorfan. Having held an easterly course from Koocha, it maintains the same direction from Iskee, Toorfan, through an uninhabited tract, in some parts mountainous, in others sandy, in others woody, forty days' journey, when it reaches Kamool, a very large city situated in China. The whole of the country through which the river has yet run was formerly under the rule of the Moosulman Rajah or chief of Yarkund, and the population is a mixture of Moosulmans and Chinese.

'From Kamool, the river, continuing its course easterly into China, after twenty days' journey, through a sandy desert, greatly deficient in water, reaches Lunjoo (Lanchen of Marco Polo), a city containing fifty thousand houses. From Lunjoo, still keeping its easterly direction for ten or twelve days' journey, it arrives at Secampoor, a large city, the inhabitants of which are wholly, or almost wholly, Moosulmans, or, as they are there called, Turganee. From Secampoor, going eastward, in twenty days' journey it reaches another large city (Sochen, M. Polo).

'The names of the other cities, or places, visited by this river in the subsequent part of its course in China, are not known to my informant; but he has always understood that it takes a large sweep to the west, and, quitting China, falls into the Irtish. My informant has gone no farther than Aksoo, but a Yarkundee merchant, his friend, who accompanied the Governor, Hakim of Yarkund, to Peking and back, gave him the information which relates to the course of the river in China.

'The preceding information was obtained through inquiries respecting Khoten producing rhubarb, which it does, though not as an article of commerce; and although its materials may stand with little relative connexion, and may present many chasms, I have thought it preferable to submit them in their present form, rather than defer doing it under the hope of make the sketch imperfect, lest the accidents which may occur in such a journey as is before me may prevent its being done at all.

'If the sources of the Irtish are really to be found in the country appertaining to Yarkund as recited, and that the common stream make the detour described, the Irtish may rank with some of the longest rivers in the world. Whilst my informant confines his relation to circumstances known to himself, I give him full credit for inquiry, observation, and veracity; but suspicious arose in regard to the accuracy of the account given by his friend.

'The retrograde course of such a river, for such a vast distance,