86o 
THROUGH ASIA 
studied courtesy of a Frenchman, “You are our friend 
and guest. You do not need any passport. You your- 
self are a sufficient passport.” I suppose Hwen Darin 
did not think I looked likely to imperil the peace of the 
country. Indeed he ordered another passport to be made 
out for me, valid for his own province. Then, at the 
end of about an hour, I said my adieus and left him ; and 
in all probability we shall never meet again. But I shall 
always keep a warm place In my memory for the good 
old man : I can see him at this instant as distinctly as 
the hour we separated. 
I will relate one other incident of my excursion into 
that neighbourhood. On March 15th, well satisfied with 
my little flying trip to Kara-shahr, I went back to Korla. 
As soon as I arrived, Islam Bai came and told me that, 
two days previously, as he was sitting beside a stall in 
the bazaar, talking to an Andijan (West Turkestan) 
merchant, five Chinese soldiers rode past. Their leader 
carried on a pole an emblem of the power and sovereignty 
of Kwang Tsii, Emperor of China. Now it Is customary, 
when the said symbol is borne through the bazaar, or 
wheresoever else it may be, for everybody to rise to their 
feet, and for every rider to dismount, and all pay obeisance 
to it as to a Gessler’s hat. 
Islam Bai, being a Russian subject, did not consider 
— and quite rightly too — that he was under any obligation 
to pay homage to Chinese sovereignty, and consequently 
.sat still. Thereupon the Chinese soldiers halted, dis- 
mounted, seized him, pulled off his chapan (cloak), and 
whilst four of them held him with his arms outstretched, 
the fifth scourged him till the blood ran down his back. 
I instantly sat down and wrote the following letter to 
Li Daloi, the commander of the soldiers, partly to procure 
satisfaction for my faithful attendant, partly to uphold the 
prestige of the European ; — 
“ During my absence your soldiers have beaten my 
servant, a Russian subject. If you can show me any 
treaty agreement between Russia and China which 
empowers Chinese soldiers to do such a thing, I will let 
