SKETCH OF NICHOLAS PREJEVALSKI. 405 



Dajin. The people of this town, who had seen them before, compli- 

 mented them on their having grown to look like themselves, or having 

 become quite Mongolian. Prejevalski himself describes the party as 

 exhausted by their arduous march, half starved, with ragged clothes 

 and boots, looking like beggars. Here they entered upon the final 

 stage of their journey through a land which no European had ever 

 entered before them — the heart of the Desert of Gobi, a region " so ter- 

 rible that, in comparison with it, the Desert of Northern Thibet may 

 be called fruitful ; there, at all events, you may find water and good 

 pasture-land in the valleys ; here there is neither one nor the other, 

 not even a single oasis ; everywhere the silence of the valley of 

 death " — in order to reach the Russian city of Urga, on its border. 

 Finally, Prejevalski reached Kiackta, his original starting-point, on the 

 19th of September, 1873. 



Not satisfied with the results of this expedition, which he regarded 

 as still incomplete, Prejevalsky engaged in the organization of a sec- 

 ond one, to be more adequately prepared for its work, which he desig- 

 nated as intended for " a scientific recounaissance of Central Asia." 

 The objective points of this, his third journey into the interior of the 

 continent, were the Lob-Nor, which no European had ever seen, and 

 the exploration of Thibet. With two Russian companions he went to 

 the valley of the Hi and to the Tarim River, by whose course he hoped 

 to be led to the still mysterious lake. Hence his route was continued 

 to the elevated Altyn-Dagh, the northern outpost of the Kuen-Lun, but 

 he still failed to get into Thibet. To quote from his own narrative : 

 " The examination of the Lob-Nor and of Western Dungaria formed 

 the conclusion of my second expedition into inner Asia. I had, in 

 consequence of the severity of my efforts, and by the operation of cli- 

 matic influences, brought upon myself a grave illness, which compelled 

 me, instead of returning to Thibet and Hami, to stop at the end of 

 1877 in our border post of Saisan. After three months of good care, 

 I was restored enough to undertake a new journey. But the expedi- 

 tion was now postponed by an order from St. Petersburg, because of 

 the unpleasant relations that were existing with the Chinese. The de- 

 lay, however, had its pleasant features for me. I could go to my own 

 home, and there, in the undisturbed quiet of a country life, gain a 

 complete recovery. Here, in this season of rest, the importance of 

 making the still wholly unknown wild regions of the interior of Asia 

 the object of a journey of discovery became clearly fixed in my mind." 

 Thus it came about that he particularly emphasized the exploration of 

 Thibet. His plan was supported by the Geographical Society, and 

 approved by the Minister of War, and he was allowed a subsidy of 

 twenty-nine thousand rubles. His company consisted of twelve per- 

 sons besides himself : Ensign Ecklon for the zoological and Ensign 

 Roborowski for the botanical work ; three soldiers and five Cossacks ; 

 a subordinate officer and preparateur ; and an interpreter from Kuldja 



