xvi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



the Shuga range as very steep : ' Le mont Chuga etai't pen 

 escarpe du cote que nous gravissions ' (ii. 213). The great 

 trouble in passing it was owing to a strong icy wind and 

 deep drifts of snow, in which they had to pitch their tent 

 and dig for argols. 



As regards No. 7 I can find in Hue no marvellous 

 stories. He speaks, indeed, of the terrors of avalanches, 

 though probably meaning only the perils of snow-drifts. 

 The snow lay very deep when he passed, and it is conceiv- 

 able, pace Col. Prejevalsky, that the course of a ravine may 

 not have been the path adopted under such circumstances. 



As regards No. 8 there is nothing I think in Hue abso- 

 lutely inconsistent with his having followed up the great 

 river after crossing it. But Prejevalsky himself is, according 

 to his countryman Palladius, not quite correct in saying 

 that the road in question follows the river to its source. 

 And moreover there are three roads on towards Lhassa from 

 the point where the river is crossed.' 



In cases i and 2 it is probable that Hue was filling up 

 a mere skeleton diary from memory, and the experience of 

 many will recognise that in such a process natural features 

 will sometimes exchange characteristics in the recollection. 

 This has, possibly, been the case with the Pouhain-gol and 

 the Tsaidam river in Hue's narrative ; whilst it is by no 

 means made certain that there are not routes, more or less 

 diverse, and parallel to one another, which are adopted 

 according to circumstances.^ Altogether Col. Prejevalsky s 

 criticisms are a little too much in the vein of Hue's 

 countryman : Je nc crois pas atix tigrcs, moi, parceque je 

 lien ai pas vii !' 



As for No. 5, 'the gas on the Burkhan Bota,' it is absurd 

 to make even the suggestion of bad faith in regard to this ; 



' I derive these particulars from a Chinese Itinerary piibhshcd by 

 Father Palladius in Russian, and kindly translated for me by Mr. 

 Morgan. 



- Hue, after quitting the shores of Koko-nor, travelled for six days 

 to the westward, with very little southing, before reaching the Pouhain- 

 gol. This indicates quite a different part of the river from that crossed 

 by Col. Prejevalsky close to the lake. 



