154 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



About two miles from here there lives a Kalmak 

 chief, so the next day, the loth, we moved out and 

 camped close to his palace, a very good house, and 

 really almost worthy of the former appellation. 

 There was also a big Buddhist temple close by. 

 The chief was a young fellow of about twenty, and 

 when he discovered that we came from the Indian 

 side, he was most civil and obliging, sending at once 

 for shikaris to assist us. He told us he was shortly 

 going to Lhasa on a pilgrimage, and asked us many 

 questions about Thibet. Oddly enough, he also 

 talked about the Chino-Japanese War, and seemed 

 to be far more intelligent than the average Chinese 

 amban. One of his chief treasures was a stuffed 

 tiger shot near here last autumn. It was not par- 

 ticularly hairy, and no lighter coloured than the 

 Indian ones. As a specimen of the taxidermist's 

 art it could hardly be regarded as a complete 

 'success, but afforded its owner much satisfaction 

 as it was pulled about on a small trolly. 



The shikaris did not arrive till the I2th, as they 

 had to come some distance, and next morning we 

 started off full of hope, which, alas ! was destined 

 to be disappointed. 



The ground was about twenty miles away back 

 to the north-west, and was quite low down, being in 

 fact at the very foot of the hills where they merge 

 into the plain, on which there were a few jeron 

 unapproachable as usual. We saw a few sheep 



