[Khotan is the chief place of Turkestan for cotton manufactures; its kham is to be found everywhere.  This name, which means raw in Persian, is given to a stuff made with cotton thread, which has not undergone any preparation; they manufacture also two other cotton stuffs:  alatcha with blue and red stripes, and tchekmen, very thick and coarse, used to make dresses and sacks; if kham is better at Khotan, alatcha and tchekmen are superior at Kashgar. (Grenard, II. pp. 191-192.)

Grenard (II. pp. 175-177), among the fruits, mentions apricots (ourouk), ripe in June, and so plentiful that to keep them they are dried up to be used like garlic against mountain sickness; melons (koghoun) water-melons (tarbouz, the best are from Hami); vine (tal)—­the best grapes (uzum) come from Boghaz langar, near Keria; the best dried grapes are those from Turfan; peaches (shaptalou); pomegranates (anar, best from Kerghalyk), etc.; the best apples are those of Nia and Sadju; pears are very bad; cherries and strawberries are unknown.  Grenard (II. p. 106) also says that grapes are very good, but that Khotan wine is detestable, and tastes like vinegar.

The Chinese traveller, translated by M. Gueluy (Desc. de la Chine occidentale, p. 45), says that all the inhabitants of Khotan are seeking for precious stones, and that melons and fruits are more plentiful than at Yarkand.—­H.  C.]

Mr. Johnson reports the whole country to be rich in soil and very much under-peopled.  Ilchi, the capital, has a population of about 40,000, and is a great place for manufactures.  The chief articles produced are silks, felts, carpets (both silk and woollen), coarse cotton cloths, and paper from the mulberry fibre.  The people are strict Mahomedans, and speak a Turki dialect.  Both sexes are good-looking, with a slightly Tartar cast of countenance. (V. et V. de H. T. 278; Remusat, H. de la V. de Khotan, 37, 73-84; Chin.  Repos. IX. 128; J.  R. G. S. XXXVII. 6 seqq.)

[In 1891, Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard at the small village of Yotkan, about 8 miles to the west of the present Khotan, came across what they considered the most important and probably the most ancient city of southern Chinese Turkestan.  The natives say that Yotkan is the site of the old Capital. (Cf. Grenard, III. p. 127 et seq. for a description and drawings of coins and objects found at this place.)

The remains of the ancient capital of Khotan were accidentally discovered, some thirty-five years ago, at Yotkan, a village of the Borazan Tract.  A great mass of highly interesting finds of ancient art pottery, engraved stones, and early Khotan coins with Kharosthi-Chinese legends, coming from this site, have recently been thoroughly examined in Dr. Hoernle’s Report on the “British Collection of Central Asian Antiquities.” Stein.—­(See Three further Collections of Ancient Manuscripts from Central Asia, by Dr. A. F. R. Hoernle ...  Calcutta, 1897, 8vo.)