Dismay of the Caravan Men. 



the greatest caution had to be exercised in crossing to avoid 

 being engulfed. At the upper end of the valley I camped by the 

 edge of a tiny mountain stream tumbling down from the icy 

 regions above. There was an abundance of wood, a welcome 

 sight, for, the evening being cold and a dismal rain setting in, a fire 

 imparted an air of cheerfulness to our surroundings. 



Just before reaching camp I passed some Kalmuks from the 

 Yulduz going down to Kuchar with a large herd of horses, some 

 being fine animals, and all showing traces of the abundant feed 

 for which the Yulduz plains are famous. These men assured 

 me the pass into the Yulduz, now a few miles higher up, was 

 stony and difiicult, and the descent on the northern side im- 

 practicable for laden ponies. I would rather not have met these 

 people, for the information they imparted only tended to still 

 further alarm my followers, to which the unkempt appearance of the 

 Kalmuks added. I felt they were only awaiting an opportunity to 

 decamp, so, to frustrate their attempt in this direction, had the 

 horses picketed near my tent. I informed them that any one 

 deserting would run the risk of being robbed and beaten, perhaps 

 killed, by the Kalmuks, between whom and Musulmans there 

 is no love lost. The real ground of their fears lay in the land to 

 the north of the pass, which, the Amban in Kuchar had said, 

 was infested with freebooters, and a bad corner of the Celestial 

 Empire, where measures of reprisal were difficult to carry out 

 by reason of the inaccessible nature of the country. 



The British Consul in Kashgar had informed me the nomads 

 of the Thian Shan cared little for the Chinese, and would 

 pay but scant attention to any remonstrances the latter might 

 make. Personally, however, I felt able to deal with any trouble 

 these Central Asian brigands might cause, but the caravan men 

 viewed the situation in quite a different light, and it required all 

 my energy and wakefulness to prevent them absconding during 

 the night. 



It would be hard to exaggerate the many difficulties and 

 obstacles met with in the march through this wild countr}- to the 



169 



