FROM KULJA TO KUMUL 431 



the best of a whole day in our very draughty, cold 

 quarters, being afraid to negotiate the pass in such rough 

 weather. The wind grew to a hurricane, the snow drifted 

 accordingly, whilst we smoked ourselves out of our mud- 

 built room in vain attempts to keep warm. A few 

 inhabitants of the miserable place came to stare at us, 

 and their dogs in turn fought my dog ; and so we spent 

 a somewhat melancholy day. In winter these serais 

 are the very essence of discomfort, and most unattractive. 

 Men do not choose these cruel months in which to travel, 

 for food is scarce and dear ; all who have business to 

 transact accomplish their work during the summer. 



The inevitable carts, laden heavily with merchandise 

 and goods from Pekin, are, of course, always encumbering 

 the road, and, now and then, the retinue of some Chinese 

 official moving to a new post ; these, together with caval- 

 cades of Kalmuks, Chinese soldiers, and nondescript 

 foot-passengers, make up the list of winter travellers. 

 Yet we saw this same portion of the road in late 

 autumn, when the Talki Pass was literally blocked with 

 traffic, and the serais were full to over-flowing. Here, 

 in this veritable Suez Canal of Central Asia, crowded 

 the entire trade and traffic that exists between Cathay 

 and Western Asia. There were Chinese horsemen, well- 

 mounted and proud of purse, and miserable foot-sore 

 emigrants bound for the Hi Valley — the El Dorado of 

 the Celestials. There were long caravans of camels laden 

 with grain, cotton, and felt ; lumbering carts and fast, 

 three-horsed coaches, which came in a cloud of dust — 

 carrying passengers between the few and far-removed 

 towns. All these crowded the high-road in summer, as 

 well as slither-heeled Tartars, slouching Mongols, Mussul- 

 man merchants, and crafty Dungans. 

 II— 8 



