OVER THE TRANS-ALAI 
H7 
neighbouring altitudes. But what icy cold — ^what frigid 
brides ! 
The horses toiled on throusfh the snow. The men had 
to be constantly on the alert, for the packs were always 
slipping round underneath the horses. Very often every 
man in the company was wanted to lend a hand to get 
them put straight again. At the more difficult places the 
characteristic cries of the Kirghiz Bismillah (In God’s 
name !) or simply Haidah (Get on !) rang out shrilly upon 
the mountain air. 
Our canine friend Yollchi thoroughly enjoyed himself. 
He tumbled like an acrobat over the snowdrifts. He 
rolled over and over in the snow, thoroughly cooling his 
thick, shaggy hide. One moment he would playfully catch 
up a mouthful of snow, the next he would race off swift as 
an arrow ahead of the caravan. The creature was half 
wild when he joined us ; and I never succeeded in making 
him properly tame. Having been reared amongst the 
Kirghiz, he could never by any bribe be induced to come 
inside my tent. For the Kirghiz are Mohammedans, and 
look upon the dog as an unclean animal. The very dust 
off his feet would pollute the inside of a tent. I tried 
my best to wean Yollchi from such superstitious notions. 
But do what I would, I could not get him past the tent 
door — neither by fair means nor foul. He had never 
once in his life set foot inside a tent, and obviously had 
made up his mind that he had no manner of business in 
such a place. 
The climate in that part of the world is not without its 
peculiarities. Whilst the sun is well-nigh burning one side 
of your face, the other side will be freezing. At noon, if 
the sky is clear, and there is no wind, it gets so hot that 
you are glad to fling off your sheepskins. But the 
moment the sun gets behind a cloud, or the shadow of 
a mountain comes between the sun and yourself, you begin 
to shiver with cold. After shedding your skin once or 
twice, your face gets as hard and dry as parchment, and 
you turn as brown as a Hindu. At noon on 5th March 
the thermometer registered 14° Fahr. ( — 10° C.) in the shade. 
