54 JOURNEY TO THE PAMIRS. 



pleased him much. In the evening he came to 

 our camp to ask us not to start very early the 

 next morning, as he had received a message to 

 say that a Beg would arrive with a Chinese inter- 

 preter from Kargalik to see our passport and 

 give us every assistance in his power in other 

 words, to find out all about us. 



The Usbashi, or headman of the village, came 

 when we were striking our tents, and said that 

 the Beg had come during the night and would visit 

 us shortly ; so we spread a carpet for his accommo- 

 dation and got out the passport. He was accom- 

 panied by a miserable-looking Chinaman, whose 

 duty it was to read and take note of the passport. 

 The language of the country is old Turkish, but 

 educated people speak Persian. The Beg turned 

 out to be a capital fellow, and seemed to know 

 all about English manners and customs. He had 

 been in the Kilian fort for a long time, and had met 

 Dalgleish once or twice : he it was who took the 

 fakir who was with Dad Mahomed when he com- 

 mitted the murder. After some general conver- 

 sation, he asked us kindly to give him information 

 relative to the composition of our caravan and 

 future movements, so that he might inform the 

 Amban of Kargalik. Having drawn up his re- 



