From _Kashgar_ to _Aksu_, the distance is 70 miles; a karavan takes to perform it twelve days. From _Aksu_ to _Ushturban_, lying to the south, the traveller requires two days. Proceeding still farther to the east, we reach Komul in twenty-eight days, as follows:-- From To Days' Journey Aksu Bay 3 Bay Saram 1 Saram Kutcha 2 Kutcha Shiar 2 Shiar Bögür 4 Bögür Kurli 3 Kurli Kohne Turfan 8 Kohne Turfan Komul 3 26 Adding twelve days for the journey from Kashgar to Aksu, this makes, for the whole distance from the latter city, forty days. {419} CHAPTER XXII. GENERAL VIEW OF AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE. AGRICULTURE DIFFERENT KINDS OF HORSES SHEEP CAMELS ASSES MANUFACTURES PRINCIPAL SEATS OF TRADE COMMERCIAL ASCENDANCY OF RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. _(a.) Agriculture._ Taken altogether, it is incredible how fertile all the cultivable land is in these three Khanats, which rise like oases out of the monstrous deserts of Central Asia. In spite of the primitive system of culture adopted, fruit and corn are luxuriantly abundant, one might even say, in many places, superabundant. The excellence of the fruit in Khiva has been already mentioned; and although Bokhara and Khokand cannot be placed, in this respect, in the same rank with Khiva, the following produce of those Khanats deserve, nevertheless, mention, e.g., the grapes, of extraordinary excellence (of which there are ten kinds), the 'magnificent pomegranates,' and particularly the apricots, which are exported in immense quantities to Persia, Russia, and Afghanistan. Corn is met with everywhere in the three Khanats, and is of five kinds: wheat, barley, Djugheri (Holcus saccharatus), millet, (Tarik), and rice. The best wheat and Djugheri are {420} said to be found in Bokhara and Khiva, a genial soil; whereas Khokand is in high repute for millet. Barley is nowhere of very good quality, and is made use of, either alone or mixed with Djugheri, as fodder for horses. In cattle-breeding the inhabitants of Turkestan concentrate their attention on three animals alone, namely, the horse, the sheep, and the camel. The horse is regarded by the Central Asiatic as his _alter ego_. Different races are met with here, possessing too different qualities and excellences. Volumes might be written to show how it is reared, and what are its varieties; but this not being my province, I will confine myself to a few observations. As countless as the stocks and branches of the nomads themselves, so countless are the races and families of their horses. The following classification deserves to be noted:--