AT KORLA AND KARA-SHAHR 86 1 
the matter drop. If not, I demand the arrest of the 
delinquents and their punishment in the public square 
of this town. If you fail to comply with this demand, 1 
shall return to Kara-shahr, and telegraph a report of the 
occurrence, not only to the Russian consul in Urumchi, 
but also to Fu Tai (the governor - general of East 
Turkestan, who also dwelt in Urumchi).” 
This peremptory letter produced an instantaneous effect. 
Li Daloi came to me, and with a tearful voice humbly 
promised that my demands .should be complied with. 
Then he went away ; but soon came back again to report 
that the guilty parties could not be discovered, and nobody 
knew anything about the affair, Islam showed his back, 
and said, that the soldier who whipped him had a deep 
scar on his left cheek. 
I therefore demanded, that the entire lanza who con- 
stituted the garrison should be paraded in the courtyard 
of the Andijan merchants’ serai, where we were staying. 
The soldiers passed one by one before Islam. 
“This is the man,” cried Islam, as the man with the 
scar went past him, and he seized him by the collar and 
dragged him before Li Daloi, The latter at once asserted 
his authority, and promptly issued his commands for the 
delinquent to be punished. Then ensued a scene which 
the good folk of Korla are not likely to forget in a hurry, 
for they crowded into the courtyard and even filled the 
roofs of the adjacent houses. 
The soldier was stretched flat on the ground ; two of 
his comrades held his arms, two others held his feet, and 
a fifth exposed the nether portion of his person, and he 
was thoroughly punished in the same way in which he had 
unjustly assaulted Islam Bai. When I considered he had 
had enough, I bade them stop, saying the one thrashing 
counterbalanced the other. 
All the same this occurrence was neither pleasant nor 
agreeable. I prefer to travel peaceably and quietly 
through the land, but I could not pass over such gross 
ill-treatment of one of my followers. Nor need the 
sensitive fear that the Chinese soldier was any the worse 
