б2 TREATMENT OF PRISONER. 



After discharging his piece every man shouted at 

 the top of his voice before reloading. This is the 

 usual style of warfare, alternately firing and uttering 

 terrible cries to frighten the enemy. 



At length our brave warriors started in pursuit 

 and caught one man who turned out to be a Chinese. 

 He may possibly have been a Dungan for the 

 Mahommedan Chinese do not differ in appearance 

 from their Confucian brethren. It was resolved to 

 put the prisoner to death as soon as the caravan 

 arrived at the next halting-place ; in the meantime 

 he was compelled to walk beside his captors. He 

 was caught trying to get off by hiding in the long 

 grass at the road side, so he was tied by his queue 

 to the tail of one of the mounted camels. 



On arrival at camp the prisoner was fastened to 

 one of the packs, while the lamas sharpened a sword 

 intended to cut off his head. But now a dispute 

 arose as to whether he should be put to death, 

 some of them wishing to spare his life. Under- 

 standing perfectly their conversation, which was in 

 Mongol, the Chinaman never lost his composure. 

 When tea was ready he was invited to join in the 

 meal, receiving as much attention as an invited 

 guest. Greatly to our astonishment he drank it as 

 though nothing out of the common way had hap- 

 pened, the lamas filling his cup while they discussed 

 his execution. Finding this extremely disgusting, 

 we started off on an excursion into the mountains. 

 On our return towards evening we learned that, 

 thanks to the mediation of the leaders of the caravan, 



