FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 41 



two gfuides to be in readiness to escort us to Koko- 

 nor, or even to Tibet if we wished to visit that 

 country. 



In the meanwhile our interview with the prince 

 was put off from day to day under the pretext of his 

 indisposition ; the real cause of the delay being his 

 fear lest I should insist on being allowed to depart 

 with the caravan of Tangutans. Nor did we see the 

 eldest son ; the Gigen and Siya came frequently to 

 visit us, without, however, inviting us to their house 

 as formerly. In fact, our reception was far less 

 cordial than last year. 



On the other hand, our finances were in a worse 

 plight than before. Of 87 lans (22/.) which we had 

 when we started, only 50 (12/. iO-s\) remained, and 

 we had to buy six new camels and two horses to 

 continue our journey. Three of the eleven camels 

 with which we had left Kalgan, and both our horses, 

 had died on the road. The only way of raising 

 money was by the sale of our merchandise. Had 

 the prince only known of our circumstances, he could 

 have detained us without the slightest difficulty by 

 refusing to buy our goods and forbidding any of his 

 subjects from purchasing of us. If луе let slip this 

 opportunity, and the caravan were to leave Din- 

 yuan-ing without us, we must for ever despair of 

 reaching Koko-nor even with money. Here was a 

 nice state of affairs caused by a beggarly want of 

 funds. 



Good luck again came to our rescue in the most 

 extraordinary way. The Gigen agreed to give us 



