KURLA. 185 



their spokesman and his comrades, who were 

 the first of the Kalmuki race I had met. They 

 had taken service as soldiers under the Chinese, 

 like many of their countrymen, and when they 

 heard I was going to visit their country, related 

 wonderful tales of the sport to be obtained in 

 the mountains. They seemed so chummy and 

 jolly, more like Goorkas than any of the other 

 natives I had met, that I took quite a fancy to 

 them. 



As the next morning snow came on hard and 



o 



fast after our start, and with it such an intensely 

 bitter wind, and there being no possible stopping- 

 place for thirty-one miles, I gave orders to return, 

 and was quite glad to be back, with my Kalmuki 

 friends about me. 



When the storm was past I pushed on to 

 Kurla, where a Turki, sent by the Aksakal of 

 Kurla, met me and saw to my wants. 



Kurla was formerly a place of importance, and 

 strongly fortified, the walls being six miles round, 

 now mostly in ruins as well as the houses with- 

 in. However, I was very comfortably located, 

 and found a stove in my room, which looked 

 quite civilised. I had to halt for a day or 

 two, to collect fresh supplies and fit out for an 



