lOO 
THROUGH ASIA 
the report of a rifle. All echoes are completely drowned 
in the roar of the hurricane. The unhappy traveller who 
has the ill-fortune to be thus caught, alone, without tent 
or provisions, furs or felts, may resign himself to the in- 
evitable : his fate is sealed. Neither Colonel Yonnoff 
nor Captain Vannofsky envied me my journey in the 
smallest degree ; and yet both were experienced travellers, 
well acquainted with the fascinating perils of travel on 
the Pamirs. Both were of one mind in warning me to 
prepare for a hard campaign. 
And yet there were two men who did not see my 
project in such dark colours, namely General Vrevsky 
and Major-General Pavalo-Shveikovsky, the governor 
of Fergana. Instead of throwing cold water on my plan, 
they encouraged me in it, and promised to do all that lay 
in their power to render it as practicable and as easy as 
possible. Both kept their promise in a most gratifying 
way. 
A week before the day I had flxed for starting from 
Margelan, the governor of P'ergana, at the suggestion 
of Baron Vrevsky, sent jighits (Sart couriers) to the 
Kirghiz who were wintering in the valleys of the Alai 
Mountains, commanding them to give me a friendly 
welcome, to provide yurts (tents) at certain places and 
times arranged for, to furnish me with supplies of food 
and fuel, to send people on in advance to clear the road 
through the snow, and hew steps in the ice which coated 
the narrow and dangerous mountain-paths of the Alai 
Mountains, and in general to render all needful assistance 
in guiding the caravan and getting forward the baggage 
from station to station. Mounted messengers were like- 
wise despatched to the Murghab ; besides which 1 also 
carried letters to the commandant of that post, and to 
the Chinese officer at Bulun-kul near the frontier. The 
jighits were further directed to accompany me the whole 
way. In a word, I met with nothing but the most 
generous assistance at Margelan in completing the equip- 
ment of my caravan, and in making preparations for my 
journey. 
