Chinese Officials Return my Calls. 



M. Loutchitch, the Vice-Consul, informed me the route 

 tlirough the Altai, Mongolia, Kobdo, Uliassiitai and Kiakhta to 

 Irkutsk was an exceedingly hard one in winter, and doubted 

 my being able to follow it owing to the severity of the cold on the 

 Mongohan steppes. The alternative route, and the one I might 

 have to follow, lay through Siberia and presented less physical 

 difficulties than the other. 



On the 6th the Tchja returned my call, arriving in a smart 

 tarantass with a Russian coachman in cocked hat, and a host of 

 mounted retainers bearing the various flags and banners emble- 

 matical of his greatness. I received the Tchja at the entrance 

 to my apartments and ushered him in. Tea was served, and 

 we then proceeded to discuss my journey and the sport I had 

 enjoyed in the Thian Shan as well as the projected route across 

 the Mongolian steppes. I was much impressed with the general 

 knowledge displayed by the Tchja, and his unfeigned admiration 

 of things European, which indicated a marked desire to come more 

 into touch with Western civilisation. 



He announced his intention of giving a dinner in my honour 

 on the 8th, and also desired to show me a wapiti stag, and a 

 red bear, in the Yamen grounds, which invitation I cordially 

 accepted. 



Soon after the Tchja's departure the Hsei Tai (Officer Com- 

 manding the garrison) and the Ti-fang-wan (an official in charge 

 of municipal affairs) arrived. The latter was an old man and 

 had been 30 years in Turkistan, being formerly stationed ui 

 Yarkand and Kashgar, so was acquainted with the country I had 

 passed through, that is as much as one can expect Chinese 'officials 

 to be with the land committed to their charge. He was bent 

 with age, and did not do much beyond putting an occasional 

 question, preferring to smoke his pipe in silence, doubtless 

 pondering on the motives which prompted my being on the trek 

 at this season of the year. 



My other visitor, the Hsei Tai, had been 34 years in Chinese 

 Turkistan, and possessed the reputation of being a proper and 



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