532 BARKUL 



although it lay right on his road to Kumul. In those 

 days, the disturbed conditions, owing to the Dungan 

 rebellion, may have caused travellers to pass it by ; 

 but even now, in these quiet times, one risks trouble by 

 entering the town. 



We ourselves found Barkul a delightful locality, 

 with its altitude and fine air of 5,650 ft,, the pleasant 

 temperature warming us after the cold of the bleak, 

 northern plateau. After a rest, we inspected several 

 old temples, one of which, according to Piassetsky, 

 dates back three thousand years ; in the precincts of 

 this we found and took "squeezes " of the black stone 

 called Tzin-Chen-Bei, where are recorded the victories 

 of a Chinese (Mongol ?) general. 



We then attempted to get transport westward ; but, 

 in spite of immense droves of horses running half wild 

 over the prairies and very large camel-herds in the 

 vicinity of the town, it took us some eight days before 

 we were able to come to an agreement, and even then 

 we had to " come down " to camels. Barkul is famous 

 for its horses ; for this reason we never imagmed it 

 possible that we should have to depend on camel- 

 transport in this land of horses. The reputation of the 

 Barkul broncos had been in no manner exaggerated ; 

 they were, indeed, the special characteristic of the 

 basin. We had been puzzled as to the kind of animal 

 which had given the name to " Bar Kul " or " wild- 

 animal lake." The neighbourhood possessed, it was true, 

 abundant animal and bird life ; we saw wild- fowl in- 

 numerable on the lake, and its western shore was the 

 haunt of troops of gazelle and droves of wild-asses ; but, 

 we now believe that the real "wild animals" of the 

 Barkul basin signify the great herds of unridable horses 



