Ruins of Desert Cathay 307 - Turdi, my dak-man from Khotan - The saddle-bag across Turdi's shoulder served to carry small mails. The 'dak-men' carried the mail on ponies or on foot throughout Central Asia from Kashmir to China. This remarkable, intrepid Turki version of a pony express man managed to find Stein regularly when he had no fixed address and was moving through the high mountains in summer or the coldest part of thedeserts in winter. Thus he managed to keep Stein in amazing contact with India, England, Hungary and other places througout the expeditions.