Across the Roof of the World. 



majority of cases, Manchus and Chinese of high rank, but with 

 the lower classes it is quite different. 



I had sent Rasul on in the early morning to Chuguchak to 

 make arrangements for quarters in the town and to convey my 

 card to the Chinese Governor with the passports, which one has 

 to do on arrival in a town. 



I went ahead of the caravan with Giyani the next morning 

 and arrived outside the walls of Chuguchak at mid-day. 



Chuguchak stands on a level plain at the foot of the Tarbagatai 

 Mountains, here rising to a height of 3,000 feet. The Russian 

 Consul had despatched a mounted orderly to meet me, an in- 

 dividual wearing a big white fur cap and a sword like unto the 

 two-handed weapon of Richard Coeur de Lion. The Chinese 

 Governor had also sent a retainer to convey his respects and 

 good wishes and welcome me in his name to the capital, as is the 

 custom in this land. Rasul was with these people, and, thus 

 escorted, I rode on through the great gate of the city to the Sart 

 quarter, where I found two rooms prepared for me in a house 

 belonging to a native of Russian Turkistan. The latter was 

 more or less civilised, in fact almost a Russian, his dwelling 

 being furnished in the Russian style and bearing quite a pleasant 

 aspect. He and his wife, a young lady of ample proportions, 

 I found to be hospitable people, unlike the ordinary Sart, and 

 most attentive to one's wants and creature comforts. 



Chuguchak lies within 12 miles of the Russo-Chinese frontier, 

 and is a fortified town of some importance. From it routes 

 lead north-west to Sergiopol and Semipalatinsk in Russian 

 territory, and northward across the Tarbagatai Range to Zaisan, 

 near the great Lake Zaisan, as also eastward into Mongolia, the 

 Altai Mountains and Kobdo. The population has increased 

 considerably of recent years owing to the more settled state of 

 the country, the establishment of a telegraph line and the con- 

 struction of a road connecting it with Urumchi and the Hi country. 

 The town is in many respects superior to Kulja and the cities 

 of Kashgaria, the streets being wider and cleaner, and bridges,. 



