Bazaars are held every Monday and Thursday and, in addition to the produce of Bokhara and India, there is a considerable market in live-stock: horses, mules, cows, sheep, goats and asses being assembled in their respective quarters for sale. Cotton goods, cloth and silk-stuffs from India; tanned leather, raw cotton, hides, fuel from Turkestan; grapes, raisins, pistacia nuts, pomegranates, dried plums from the country-side; rock salt, Russian boots, indigenous dyes--as the pomegranate bark and madder--and indigo imported from India, are exposed, together with chogas from Chitral and raw wool from Badakshan. Printed chintzes, quilts and turbans are also brought from Russian Turkestan; and coarse saddlery from Kabul is much in request. One section of the bazaar is set aside for the sale of melons, which are raised in great quantities in the neighbourhood. The population is typical of a frontier region, and a sprinkling of natives from every quarter of Central Asia may be found there. The Hindus act as money-lenders and bankers, exacting an exorbitant usury; and other natives of India keep the drug stores and the dye shops. The vendors of dried fruits are mostly from Kabul. The trade with Yarkand is in the hands of Andijani merchants, who acquire the sheep and furs of the Oxus territory in exchange, at Yarkand, for tea, which is disposed of in Turkestan. Fifty miles to the west of Khulm there is the beginning of what once was the territory of Balkh, which draws its water from 18 canals fed from the Balkh river. To-day the scene of the Mother of Cities reflects nothing but decay. The bazaar, simply a covered street with a few shops in it, runs through the village. The combined population of the district does not exceed 2000, including a small colony of Hindus and about 70 Jews. Both these classes are shop-keepers and each is subject to a capitation tax. The caste of the Hindus is shown by the usual painted marks upon the forehead and the Jews wear a black sheepskin cap. The climate of Balkh is very insalubrious, but the heat is temperate. In June the thermometer does not rise above 80°, while July is the hottest month of the year. The crops do not ripen until July, which makes the harvest fifty days later than Peshawar. The region is unusually fertile. Indeed, the fruit of Balkh is most famous, and the apricots grow to the size of apples. The soil is of a greyish colour, like pipe-clay and very rich. Within the Balkh region water is distributed by means of aqueducts leading from the Balkh river. The area of cultivation is not sufficient to exhaust the capacity of these canals, their constant overflow accounting for the extreme unhealthiness of the place. Aside from this peculiarity, the country is not naturally marshy. The district lies some 1800 feet above the level of the sea, about 6 miles from the hills on a gentle slope, which sinks towards the Oxus. The waters of the Balkh river do not at the present