A JOURNEY IN SIBERIA. 399 



All the people are delighted, not the men only, to see thee, to greet thee ; all 

 of us wish thee joy, and a thousand years of life and health. 



And of thy good pleasure receive our homage. Thou mayest well have seen 

 a better people, but no truer has ever offered greeting and welcome. 



May God bless thee, thee and thy house and thy children. I cannot find 

 words enough to praise thee, but God has given me my tongue, and it 

 has spoken, the red tongue, what sprang from the heart." 



We left the Arkat mountains, and soon thereafter the district 

 governed by our kind host, whom we left at the hunting-ground; 

 and very shortly afterwards we were welcomed in Sergiopol, the 

 first town in Turkestan, by Colonel Friedrichs, who greeted us in 

 the name of the governor of this great province, and gave us escort 

 on our way. Kirghiz chiefs became our guard of honour, and sup- 

 plied us with draught-horses which could never before have done 

 duty as such, so madly did they at first try to run off with the 

 heavy wagon. Kirghiz sultans showed us hospitality, looked after 

 our food and shelter, and erected yurts at every place where we 

 wished to rest, or were expected to do so. Kirghiz also caught 

 snakes and other creeping things for our collections, threw their 

 nets on our behalf into the steppe-lakes, and followed us like 

 faithful dogs on our hunting expeditions. Thus we journeyed 

 through the steppe-land, now gorgeous in the full beauty of spring, 

 delaying for a time to hunt and collect at Alakul ("the shining 

 lake "), crossing valleys full of blossom and smiling hills, to Lepsa, 

 the Cossack settlement on the Alatau, one of the grandest of the 

 steppe mountains. We traversed the settled region, a little paradise, 

 flowing with milk and honey; ascended the high mountains, rejoic- 

 ing in the rushing torrents, the green Alpine lakes, and the lovely 

 vistas, and finally directed our course to the north-east towards the 

 Chinese frontier, for the shortest and most convenient route to the 

 Altai led us through a portion of the Celestial Empire. 



In Bakti, the last Russian outpost, news was brought to us that 

 His InefFability the Jandsun Dyun, the Governor of the province 

 Tarabagatai, sent to greet us in the name of China, and invited us 

 to a banquet. To meet the hospitable wishes of the noble mandarin, 

 we rode on the 21st May to Tchukutchak or Tchautchak, the capital 

 of the said province. 



