FROM THE ALTAI TO THE ILI 421 



to England, and, incidentally, for resting a short time 

 after seven months of continual travel. 



Our stay in Kulja was made pleasant by the hospitality 

 afforded us by Father Raemdonck, a Belgian missionary, 

 who placed a house at our disposal and gave us such 

 help as cannot be adequately acknowledged by words 

 of thanks. On November 26th our party was broken 

 up by the departure of Price for England. Travelling 

 by way of Tashkent, Transcaspia, and the Caucasus, he 

 reached England in March 1911, and has since written 

 an account of the social and political condition of Siberia, 

 from impressions he gained during this journey. He 

 took with him Makandaroff, our interpreter, whose 

 place was filled by John Pereira, a Cingalese — of great 

 parts — who had lived at different times in Pekin, St. 

 Petersburg, Chinese Turkestan, and England, who could 

 not only speak several languages, but cook a good dinner. 

 From Kulja I wished to send home my maps and 

 notes, up to date, so as not to run any risk through 

 carrying them over thousands of miles of country. This 

 was arranged through the kindness of Mr. T. P. Miller, 

 who was on his way back to England after a hunting- 

 trip in the Tian Shan, and who undertook to convey 

 them home. 



All were delivered safely to the Royal Geographical 

 Society, but the maps and notes did not reach their 

 destination without some risk, as well as giving consider- 

 able trouble to the bearer, for immediately Mr. Miller 

 crossed the frontier into Russian Turkestan he was 

 arrested, and maps, diaries, and note-books were con- 

 fiscated. To all intents and purposes the results of the 

 last seven months' work were lost ; however, owing to the 

 apparent inability of the secret-service officials to read 



