OUR DECISION 



215 



in rame. Yet the grounds we had been endeavour- 

 ing to reach for the last week seemed to us so 

 attractive from afar, that we decided to march on 

 to the head of the river Kobdo. As for the Dain- 

 Kol district, it was so much out of our way, in a 



southern direction, that taking into consideration 

 the bad condition of our ponies and the constant 

 opposition of our Kalmuks, we deemed it advisable, 

 in case of failure on the Muss-Taou, to shift north- 

 wards and carefully explore the spurs of the Altai, 

 between the sources of the Tchagan-Kol River and 

 the Siberian frontier. In addition to our new L>uide 



