400 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



The company which rode through the summer glory of the 

 steppe was larger and more splendid than ever. Partly in order to 

 have a quite necessary security in a country disquieted by insm-rec- 

 tion, partly in order to appear with dignity, not to say with pomp, 

 before his Highness, we had added to our ranks. For, besides the 

 thirty Cossacks from Sachan, under the leadership of our new 

 escort, Major Tichanoff, and besides our old Kirghiz friends, we had 

 with us a half sotnia of Cossacks from Bakti. The beating hoofs of 

 our small army sounded strangely in the otherwise desolate steppe. 

 All our Kirghiz were arrayed in holiday dress, and their black, blue, 

 yellow, and red kaftans, covered with gold and silver braid, vied 

 in sheen and splendour with the uniforms of the Russian officers. 

 At the boundary, which had recently been agreed upon, a Chinese 

 warrior of high rank waited to greet us. Thereupon he wheeled 

 round and galloped off as fast as his horse would bear him to 

 inform his commander of our approach. Stumbling over rubbish 

 heaps, between half-ruined and half-built houses, but also between 

 blossoming gardens, our horses bore us towards the town. There 

 apish Mongolian faces grinned at us, and appallingly ugly women 

 outraged my sense of beauty. Our cavalcade drew up in front of 

 the Governor's house, and we craved admission at the broad portal 

 Opposite it rose a wall of beautiful workmanship, with some 

 strange animal figure in the centre; while to right and left on the 

 ground lay some Chinese instruments of torture. An official of the 

 house bade us enter, but indicated at the same time that the Cossacks 

 and Kirghiz were to remain outside. The governor received us with 

 the greatest solemnity in what seemed at once his sitting-room, 

 office, and court of justice. Preserving all the dignity of a high 

 mandarin, sparse of speech, in fact, uttering but a few disjointed 

 words, always accompanied, however, with a cheerful, grinning 

 smile, he gave us his hand, and bade us sit down at the breakfast- 

 table. This gave promise of tea, and bore innumerable small dishes 

 with strange delicacies, and " we raised our hands to the daintily 

 prepared meal". The food consisted of rice, various fruits dried 

 and preserved in oil, slices of ham as thin as parchment, dried shrimp- 

 tails, and a multitude of unknown, or, at any rate, unrecognizable 



