Across the Roof of the World. 



undulating hills sloping down in gradual sweeps to the central 

 part of the valley. The distance was most deceiving, for on 

 leaving the hills it did not appear to be more than two or three 

 miles to the auls. It, nevertheless, took us three hours of steady 

 marching, thus giving some idea of the deception peculiar to 

 travelling across great plains. 



I pitched camp beyond the group of auls, and then interviewed 

 an inteUigent Kalmuk I found there. From him I learnt that 

 their Chief lived a considerable way off, in the Little Yulduz 

 Valley to the east. Their ideas as to his exact whereabouts were 

 rather vague, the distance apparently being anything from five to 

 fifty miles. They could do nothing without the orders of their 

 Chief as regards the supply of horses, although the whole plain 

 was covered with them for leagues. 



The Chief, or Khan of the Kalmuks as he is called, is an 

 important personage in this part of the world and the liege lord 

 of all his nomad tribesmen. I therefore decided to go over the 

 following day and see him in person. The Kalmuks near my 

 camp, contrary to expectations, displayed no curiosity, none 

 coming to stare at us, as is customary in other parts of 

 Central Asia, for which act of grace I was exceedingly thankful. 



Here I paid off the Turkis, also giving them sufficient supplies 

 for the return journey, and heartily glad I was to see the 

 last of them and to have finished with such a cowardly set of 

 creatures. 



The Kalmuk who had been spokesman when I first arrived 

 at the auls, now volunteered to accompany me to the residence 

 of the Khan, so I decided to start at dawn the next morning, 

 leaving Giyani in charge of the camp. I took Rahim as in- 

 terpreter as, of course, no one in this out-of-the-way corner of 

 the universe spoke Hindustani or Persian, only Turki, with which 

 language my acquaintance was limited. 



The horse flies in this portion of the valley were a great 

 nuisance, my tent being full of them, and the space between the 

 inner and outer walls swarming with the buzzing insects. They 



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