98 RETURN TO CHOBSEN. 



climate and more abundant food in the lower 

 valleys. 



The scientific harvest was all gathered, and we 

 determined to retrace our steps to Chobsen, and 

 attempt to proceed thence to Lake Koko-nor. On 

 our way back we caught our camels, which had been 

 allowed to pasture near the temple of Chertinton, 

 and were in miserable condition, owing to the unac- 

 customed food upon which they had fed all summer. 

 They all had bad coughs, brought on by the damp 

 climate, and their bodies were covered with sores ; 

 in fact they were hardly fit for even a short journey. 



On September i, we arrived at Chobsen, where 

 we found that during our absence the Dungans had 

 increased their marauding to an alarming extent. 

 The badly-armed militia, numbering 2,000 men, 

 could do nothing against the mounted robbers, who 

 rode up to the very walls of the temple and taunted 

 its defenders : ' Where are your Russian friends now 

 Avith their good guns ? ' they would exclaim ; ' we 

 have come to fight them.' The militia sometimes 

 returned a volley, but the bullets from their match- 

 locks fell short of the enemy. Our friends, the 

 leaders of the caravan, were the chief organisers of 

 the defence. They had sent several messengers 

 into the hills imploring us to return, and were 

 anxiously awaiting our arrival. Now, we thought, 

 at all events we shall have a brush with the brigands ; 

 as for their leader, who was described by the gallant 

 defenders of Chobsen to be a terrible warrior, who 

 rode a piebald horse and bore a charmed life, we 



