THROUGH ASIA 
9 1 8 
yellowish -green, ugly-looking scorpion, two inches long, 
striking out at the clog with his poisonous tail. But the 
clog’s instinct warned him against seizing the creature in 
his mouth. I instantly killed the scorpion ; and rewarded 
Yollclash with a large piece of meat, and patted him and 
caressed him, and gave him to understand that he was a 
“good fellow.” 
Charkhlik was ruled by a Chinese amban, Li Darin. 
When the Dungan revolt, which broke out in Decem- 
ber 1894, spread to Si-ning-fu, and there assumed dis- 
quieting proportions, the Chinese stationed in the town 
a garrison of 265 men, armed with discarded English rifles 
of the period of the Crimean War. Agreeably to the 
prescribed custom and etiquette, immediately after my 
arrival I sent a messenger to Li Darin, bearing my 
Chinese visiting-card and the local passport which Hwen 
Darin gave me in Kara-shahr, and at the same time in- 
quired, when I might have the honour of waiting upon him 
personally. In reply, Li Darin sent his interpreter to say, 
that before he could receive me, he must first see a larger 
passport, valid for the district over which he ruled. I bade 
the interpreter, a Mohammedan beg, and a very decent 
fellow, explain that I had left my “great passports” from 
Peking and Kashgar behind me in Khotan, because, when 
[ set out on my journey, I had not intended to travel so 
far, and that it would be best for me to call upon the 
amban and fully explain matters to him myself 
The answer which came back was, that a man who 
travelled without a passport must be treated as a sus- 
picious individual, that the amban would not receive me, 
that the southern route to Khotan was closed against 
me, but that, seeing 1 had the “ little passport,” I might, 
as a favour, return to Kara-shahr, and then go back to 
Khotan the same way I had come. 
Truly a bright look-out ! Three and a half months 
through the desert by a road I had already explored, 
and that in the height of summer ; whereas by the 
southern route, via Cherchen, I could reach Khotan 
in a single month ! I instructed the interpreter to tell 
