CHAPTER XVII. 



Through Dzungaria towards Chuguchak. 



I NOW had to settle the details of the onward march of the 

 expedition to the Altai and the Trans-Siberian Railway, a long 

 and difficult trek at this season of the year with the entire 

 ■country already within the icy grip of winter. I therefore 

 •decided to leave Kulja on November 12th and proceed through 

 the Sairam Nor and Ebi Nor country due north to Chuguchak. 

 From there I wished to strike eastwards into Mongolia and 

 across the Black Irtish Valley to the Great Altai Mountains, 

 thence northwards to the railway. 



During my stay in Kulja I had engaged the services of a 

 Yarkandi boy, Yusuf by name. He had expressed a keen desire 

 to accompany me and so I installed him as assistant to Rasul. 

 Yusuf hailed from Yarkand, whither he had migrated with his 

 father a few years before. The latter had died in Kulja, and so 

 Yusuf was left alone in the world. Before entering my service 

 he had been employed in a Chinese restaurant, but ministering to 

 the wants of Celestial epicures had not appealed to him, so, quitting 

 it, decided to follow my fortunes into the unknown and learn 

 something of the world beyond. 



Rasul had agreed to accompany me as far as Kobdo in 

 Mongolia, whence there is a caravan route which would take him 

 back southwards to his home on the Kashgarian side of the 

 Thian Shan. I had intended buying my own transport in Kulja, 

 but the Aksakal and other authorities on the subject considered 

 it far better to hire along the line of route, as at this season of 

 the year no ponies would outlast the severe marching necessitated 

 in covering the great distance between Kulja and the Altai. 



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