GGG 



EXPLORATIONS IN MONGOLIA AND TIBET. 



were sold or otherwise disposed of when good-looking, and Tankar, 

 with a remaining population of a few thousands or so, enjoyed quiet 

 once more. 



At Hsi-ning, for several years after the rebellion had been suppressed, 

 no Mohammedan was allowed to enter the city (none of them could live 

 in it) without having a stamp impressed on his cheek by the guard at 

 the gate ; and even now, after twenty years of peace, none of them may 

 have a knife, even the usual small one which is carried by all travelling 

 Chinese in a little case with their chop-sticks.* 



On the 29th of February, I was back in Lusar, but though I used all 

 diligence and expended a vast amount of energy, it was the 14:th of 

 March when we made our final start for the Kokonor country, the first 

 stage of our journey to Tibet. 



Fig. 4. — Chinese comjiosiiig Mr. Kockliill's iiarty. 



My party, as finally organized, comprised four Chinese, three of 

 them frontiersmen from near Lusar, and one, a cook, engaged at Kuei- 

 hua Ch'eng, and a native of Tung-chou, near Peking. We had two 

 small blue cotton tents, and our saddle blankets formed the bulk of 

 our bedding, for the very heavy sheep- skin garments we wore were 

 enough covering for the coldest weather. 



* In the narrative of tlie journey of Benedict Goes (1603-1607) it is said that the 

 Mohammedans at Su Chou (northwest Kan-su) were shut up every night within the 

 walls of their own city, which was distinct from that inhabited by the Chinese. 

 See H. Yule's Cathay and the Way Thither, p. 582. , 



