PRELIMINARY TOUR TO THE XORTH. 99 



accompanied by every good wish for our happiness 

 and success from our countrymen resident in that 

 city, amongst whom we had passed our time so agree- 

 ably. Those pleasant days were now gone by, and 

 in the bustle and anxiety of present arrangements we 

 had little time even to think of the future, with all 

 its hopes and fears. 



In addition to the Cossack who had accompanied 

 us from Kiakhta, another, attached to our embassy 

 at Peking, was ordered to join our party. Both 

 these men were only to remain with us temporarily, 

 and were to be replaced by two others who had not 

 yet arrived. Under these circumstances we could 

 not at once enter the heart of Mongolia, and there- 

 fore determined to explore such parts of it as lie 

 north of Peking in the direction of the town of 

 Dolon-nor. Here I wished, in the first place, to 

 acquaint myself with the nature of the hilly region 

 which, just as at Kalgan, forms the border-land of 

 the plateau, and secondly, to observe the spring flight 

 of birds of passage. For the latter purpose, lake 

 Dalai-nor was a convenient station, situated on the 

 table-land itself, 100 miles north of Dolon-nor. From 

 its shores we purposed again descending to Kalgan, 

 changing our Cossacks for the newcomers whose 

 arrival we expected about that time, and then turn- 

 ing westwards in the direction of the northern bend 

 of the Hoang-ho. In order to burden ourselves as 

 little as possible, we despatched part of our effects 

 direct to Kalgan, only taking with us what was abso- 

 lutely necessary for two n^ionths. Having been un- 



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