Across the Roof of the Wcjrld. 



and other exercises on the plain near the house. There were 

 i8 cavaliers under the command of an officer, and the parade 

 was distinctly an original one. They each galloped in turn 

 along a trench about 3 feet deep and 4^- feet wide, firing at three 

 little mud targets placed on the parapet at intervals of 120 yards. 

 The majority of these gallant cavalrymen were too busy hanging 

 on to their mounts to trouble about shooting straight. They 

 contented themselves with blazing away yards beyond the 

 target, doubtless hoping to get out of it alive. Some of them 

 did not fire at all at the first target, which amused the Officer 

 Commanding immensely, he apparently regarding the morning's 

 work as a huge joke, and the mere fact of no one scoring a hit 

 did not seem to worry him in the least. The performance having 

 terminated they formed up and rode away, with colours and 

 banners flying and all the panoply of war, well satisfied with the 

 result of the day's labours, no checking of targets, cleaning of 

 rifles, or any such essential details troubling them. Military 

 training in Chinese Turkistan is obviously conducted on original 

 lines. 



Eight miles beyond Lutsakou the road enters the hills and 

 then runs through a narrow valley to the village of Atai, beyond 

 which I camped the night. It was bitterly cold, with a keen 

 searching wind that did not improve matters, but we were lucky 

 to discover a quantity of logs cut for purposes of bridge building, 

 with which we made quite a respectable fire, although as it was 

 freezing hard, life in the open was not enviable. 



On the 19th I continued up the ravine to the Talki Pass 

 on the northern side of which lies the Lake of Sairam Nor. 

 The ascent from Atai began at once, leading through the 

 cleft in the hills, crossing and re-crossing the river a number of 

 times by substantial bridges of Chinese construction. The 

 mountains now bore a desolate and cheerless aspect, the pro- 

 fusion of foliage and vegetation which in summer clothes their 

 sides having been all cut down by the frost and severe cold, the 

 only note of colour being the dark and sombre pines. Half-way 



318 



