32б RANSACKED, AND ROBBED. 



which interested them a good deal more than ex- 

 amining- the things. 



After concluding the inspection, the official an- 

 nounced that his superior wished to look at the 

 rifle and revolver we had practised with the day 

 before. At first I declined to give up these articles, 

 but upon his declaring he had orders not to return 

 without them, I surrendered them on condition that 

 a boat should be sent to take us across the river. 

 After an hour the boat appeared, into which we 

 placed all our baggage and crossed the river, leaving 

 my companion and a Cossack in charge of the 

 camels, for which the boat was to be sent a second 

 time. 



After storing all our baggage in the yard of a 

 house standing on the bank of the River and used 

 as a warehouse for salt, I applied to the mandarin 

 for an order to have our camels brought over and 

 for a pass to enable us to pursue our journey 

 through Ala-shan. To this he replied, that he must 

 personally inspect our things, and accompanied me 

 to the place where they were stored. Turning 

 them over he selected and gave to his servant what- 

 ever pleased him most, on the plea of wishing to 

 examine them more carefully at home and promising 

 to return them to me afterwards. He took two 

 single-barrelled rifled pistols, a revolver in case, 

 a dagger, two powder-flasks, a lamp, and a quire of 

 writing paper. When I perceived that the ex- 

 amination was nothing less than robbery, I told my 

 interpreter to inform him that we had not come 



