434 
THROUGH ASIA 
rounded summit, composed of slippery yellow clay or fine 
schistose gravel. Through the adjacent glens floated 
detached clouds of impenetrable mist. 
Our camping -station for the night bore the curious 
name of Sarik-kiss (the Yellow Maiden). 
After leaving, on the i6th, the entrance to the glen 
of Keng-kol on our right, we were once more in a well- 
known district, and that evening put up at Ighiz-yar, in 
the same caravanserai in which we had stayed before. 
1 was very pleased to lay aside my cumbrous, heavy 
winter clothing, which the mild air now made superfluous. 
And how good were the fruit and the Kashgar bread and 
eggs which we had for dinner ! 
On October 19th I once more took possession of my 
room at the consulate at Kashgar, delighted to see the 
pile of new'spapers and letters which had accumulated 
during the course of the summer. 
I now settled down at the house of my old friend 
Consul-General Petrovsky, and was able to enjoy a 
period of much-needed rest. We spent the long autumn 
evenings, as before, by the fireside, discussing many an 
important Asiatic problem. I will not dwell upon my 
reminiscences of Kashgar, except a couple of incidents 
which I must mention. My first care was to arrange 
and label my geological specimens from the Mus-tagh-ata, 
and to develop the photographs I had taken. After that 
I wrote a few scientific papers on the work of the 
summer. 
In the beginning of November a breath of air from 
Europe penetrated to our lonely colony in the far east. 
Mr. Kobeko, a privy councillor, who was making a tour 
of inspection through Russian Turkestan, arrived in 
Kashgar. He was a pleasant, refined, and well-read 
man, and during the week he stayed with us the days 
flew past more quickly than usual. I shall never forget 
the evening of November 6th, the anniversary of the 
day on which the great Gustavus Adolphus died. We 
were all sitting round the large drawing - room table, 
tea - glass in hand, talking politics, and discussing the 
