FAT-RUMPED SHEEP 263 



returning. We accordingly had to find some other 

 mode of conveyance, and after some trouble secured 

 three small Peking carts, into which we managed 

 to stow our possessions. George had sold the horses 

 at Lanchow for what they would fetch. They 

 are cheap at Ti-hua-fu, and one can get a good 

 one for between fifteen and twenty taels. Such 

 an animal, ridden across the desert to Lanchow, 

 could be sold there for a sum which would pay 

 for his cost and expenses in addition to those of 

 his vendor. I noticed in the streets one day a 

 fine specimen of the fat-rumped sheep of Central 

 Asia. This variety differs from the fat-tailed 

 breeds of India and Somaliland, the tail being 

 quite rudimentary. 



Duke Lan, a member of the Imperial family, 

 had been exiled to Ti-hua for complicity in the 

 Boxer rising of 1900. We called on him before 

 leaving, and were shown some of the many 

 excellent photographs which he had taken. Those 

 of horses, especially, were quite up to a professional 

 standard. Having heard that the troops at Kuldja 

 had mutinied, and were marching on Ti-hua-fu, it 

 became apparent that the road to Tashkent was 

 closed. The Imperialist army was in a position 

 just beyond a place called Shi-hu or Wu-su. At 

 this point the road divides, one branch running 

 westward to Hi and Kuldja, and the other to 

 Tarbagatai or Chuguchak. Once past Shi-hu, 

 as far as the revolution was concerned, our 

 troubles would be at an end. The stages between 

 Ti-hua-fu and Chuguchak can easily be travelled 

 in fifteen days if the roads are in fair condition ; 

 but in winter one would have to be very lucky to 



