YARKAND is the most populous and extensive of all the distrieth of Kasligaria, the souls number ing 40,000. Its capital, Yarkand, the largest town of Eastern Turkestan, has populous suburbs, its principal industry being the leather trade. Yarkand stands on an open plain between the branches of the Yarkand river. The foreigners iu it from Badakhshan carry on a trade in Kash mir slaves, and the Balti tribes from Little Tibet carry on all the work of labourers, drivers, and carriers. Goitre is very frequently met with in Yarkand, the natives of which attribute its pre valence to the property of the water ; and it is also met with in Khokand. Gold is wmhed out at the Karja settlements; the inhabitants pay their dues in this metal, and dispose of it to private individuals. Sulphur, sal-ammoniac, alum, and saltpetre occur. The volcanic soil around the town of Kuehl. is particularly rich in these materials. Sulphur is obtained at Ush-Trirfan, in the Yar kand district, and saltpetre at Ush-Turfan and at Sairam, 110 miles farther east. Salt niines an: worked in the Yan-chi Shan mountains, cast of Aksu. Among the more remarkable mineral pro ductions of Turkestan must be included the jade, which is highly esteemed in China under the name of Yu. The nephrite found here is of two kinds ;
that from the mountains, called by the natives Loncha or Bishbargan, which is found in the mountains of Minijai and Sutash, 74 miles from Yarkand ; and the second obtained in the river Ulgunkash (pronounced Yurunkash by the Chinese), under the special supervision of a Chinese officer.
The Khokand people obtain gold bY washing in the upper course of the Syr, which takes its rise in the Tian Shan and lead, mixed with silver, is also procured in 'the bills to the east of Andijan. The Bolor is particularly rich in minerals. Gold in nuggets forms the staple of trade between Karatagin and Khokand ; and slaves, lapis-lazuli, turquoises, and rubies constitute that between Badakhshan and Yarkand. The river Karia, which is worked for gold, rises out of these mountains; and the name of Zar-afshan (auri ferous), which some rivers flowing out of it bear, together with the tradition throughout Central Asia to the effect that the ruler of the Gildits keeps concealed in his cavern bars of gold, tends to strengthen the foregoing inferences.—Russians in Central Asia, Capt.VallIchanof and M-.Trentukof, p. 133.