280 
THROUGH ASIA 
current, which came down at the same point and flowed 
into the Tock-terek, was very turbid, owin^sj to the quantity 
of detritus and glacial mud it held in suspension. It had 
also a bigger volume than the stream it joined. The 
latter, not being of glacial origin, was clear. 
At the bottom of the northern slope of Ullug-rabat 
we came upon an aul of nine yurts, and shortly after that 
upon another of five, both standing on the brink of the 
stream, and both owning large flocks of sheep pasturing 
in the neighbourhood. At the first aul (tent- village) 1 
was met by Togdasin Beg, who gave me a flattering 
welcome. He led me to his own aul, where the yurt 
1 occupied before still stood in the same place , at the 
moment, however, it was occupied by nearly a dozen 
dirty, ill-smelling Chinese soldiers, who gaped their fill 
at me, shouted, laughed, and touched and poked their 
fingers at my several packages. Then came the secretary 
of Shi Darin, the commandant, requesting to see my 
passport. He saw it and was satisfied. Thereupon I 
invited him to partake of tea. He did so, and made 
himself tolerably agreeable. 
Togdasin Beg asserted, that the garrison numbered 66 
men, but I question whether there were more than a 
dozen ; at any rate I never saw more, and if there had 
been more, they would certainly have come to my yurt, 
for their curiosity was insatiable. Togdasin had simply 
counted the horses, and then jumped to the conclusion 
that there was a corresponding number of men. But in 
that part of the world the Chinese have a most extra- 
ordinary way of enumerating their troops. They are not 
content with counting the soldiers only, but reckon in also 
their horses, rifles, shoes, breeches, and so forth , so that 
the resultant total is a long way above what it ought to be. 
rhey apparently go on the supposition, that the rifle is at 
least as valuable as the man ; and by an analogous train of 
reasoning, they argue that a man is of little use if he has 
to travel on foot, that he cannot go about naked, and so 
on. Hence they count in the whole kit, rifle, breeches, 
und all. By this peculiar process of arithmetic they fancy 
