550 DZUNGARIA 



did not suit either the occupants or their belongings. 

 The smoky interior of a yurt would have been much 

 more appropriate. The old Chief was decidedly sus- 

 picious of us at first, and laughed at the idea that we 

 wanted to shoot wild-sheep ; he undoubtedly put us 

 down as spies. But when we had produced our Chinese 

 passports, and had proved to him our acquaintance with 

 the Russian Consuls of both Chuguchak and Kulja, he 

 began to look at us in a more friendly light. 



Like so many of these frontier nomad chiefs, though 

 a Chinese subject, he was thoroughly in with the Rus- 

 sians, so as to be on the safe side whichever way the 

 cat jumped. 



It was hard to believe that this man had, in spite of 

 his proportions, made the pilgrimage to Mecca, three 

 years previously, accompanied by his wife. They had 

 travelled by horse and boat to Omsk, and from there by 

 train to Odessa. He dwelt on the overcrowding of the 

 boats, saying that " they were packed like sheep at a 

 shearing." While undergoing a lengthy quarantine at 

 Tebuk, on the Mecca railway, fifteen out of their party 

 of forty had died, probably from cholera. How foreign 

 to the heart of the lazy, space-loving Central Asian 

 nomad must have been the crowding, hurry, and 

 bustle of train and boat travelling ! But it was all 

 looked upon as martyrdom for the cause, and submitted 

 to without a murmur — a striking proof of the hold 

 Mohammedanism has over its most outlying believers. 



Before we left we had quite made friends with our 

 host, and had the satisfaction of hearing him order men 

 and horses for our use. 



From our camp we looked up to the jagged crest of 

 the Barlik, only a day's march to the north. It is 



