And books were demanded of them, books on Russia, on sailors, on aeroplanes, on scientists, on metro-workers, on kolkhoz labourers, on women and schoolchildren and parachute heroes.

Pliny has a chapter on myomancy, or soothsaying by means of rats and mince, (Nat. Hist., lib. ix. c. 57).

This traditionally Kazakh stronghold is lush with farmland, pasture and flanking forest-blanketed mountains — a big change from the usual preconceptions of Xinjiang — and from here you can exit China at Khorgas and travel onward to Almaty. Although a train spur line is being built to Yining and Khorgas, the current method of travel for this excursion is by bus or private jeep.

This real-estate drama, however, has a twist: one of the area's gentrifiers is a stylish new restaurant and performance space opened by Michael Dorf, the founder of the Knitting Factory.