Charged--particle pseudorapidity density for 12 centrality classes over a broad $\eta$ range in \XeXe\ collisions at \snn = \unit[5.44]{TeV}. Boxes around the points reflect the total systematic uncertainties, while the filled squares on the right reflect the normalisation uncertainty from the centrality determination Statistical errors are negligible The reflection (open circles) of the $3.5< \eta< 5$ values around $\eta=0$ is also shown The lines correspond to fits to a gaussian distribution in rapidity multiplied by an effective Jacobian of transformation from $\eta$ to $y$.