158 MEETING WITH CHINESE SOLDIERS. 



the small size of the body : the inhabitants make 

 warm clothing of its winter coat, each skin fetching 

 about 2^. 6d. 



The third day after we had pitched our camp in 

 the vicinity of Bathar Sheilun, a small detachment 

 of Chinese soldiers, commanded by an officer, sud- 

 denly presented themselves before us, and demanded 

 our passports. It appeared that the lamas of the 

 temple, apprehending that we were Dungan spies, 

 had given notice of our arrival at the neighbouring 

 Chinese town of Bautu, whence the soldiers had 

 been sent. They approached us in order of battle, 

 with lighted fuses and drawn swords. But this 

 farce was soon played out. We invited the officer 

 to our tent, and showed him our Peking passport, 

 which at once produced an impression. While a 

 copy was being taken of this document, I entertained 

 the officer with tea and Russian sugar, and presented 

 him with a penknife, and we parted the best of good 

 friends. We only discovered after their departure 

 that the soldiers had carried away with them some 

 of our smaller articles. From Bathar Sheilun we 

 marched towards the mountains of Munni-ula which, 

 as we have stated, form the westernmost termination 

 of the proper In-shan. As the latter range is in all 

 probability of one character throughout, a more 

 detailed description of its western ridge may suffice 

 for the whole. 



Extending for nearly seventy miles between two 

 valleys, one on the north and the other on the south 

 (towards the Hoang-ho), the Munni-ula rises as a 



