922 
THROUGH ASIA 
“To Urumchi! Are you mad?” cried Shi Darin, 
exploding with laughter. “No. Go on to Cherchen. a.s 
though nothing were the matter. I will be answerable 
for the consequences. The amban has issued the order 
for your arrest ; but I am commandant of the garrison, not 
he, and I do not intend to supply a single soldier for any 
such purpose. And if Li Darin attempts to arrest you 
with the help of the native begs, 1 will .send an escort of 
soldiers to protect you.” 
Could a greater volta face of Fortune be imagined? 
I was to be protected by the very soldiers whom Li 
Darin had threatened should arrest me ! But then, 
conflicts of this kind between the civil and the military 
Chinese authorities in the towns of Central Asia are by 
no means rare occurrences. I observed the same thing 
in both Kashg'ar and Khotan. 
The next morning we were all ready for starting again. 
And as though Shi Darin had not already sufiiciently 
shown his good offices towards me, he now sent me 
a large supply of sugar and tobacco, the very things 
I wanted. In return I made him a present of some 
maps which I could do without, and of several small 
things. Once more therefore we were bound for the 
west. Our camels were browsing on the green leaves 
of the trees in a park on the outskirts of the town. 
As we rode past, we sent them a melancholy farewell ; 
but they never for an instant stopped their busy feeding, 
nor deigned to waste a single glance upon us. 
I must however hasten rapidly over the 560 miles which 
still separated us from Khotan. I would gladly linger 
over the details of the journey ; but this book is still 
growing, and I hope moreover to return again to this 
region, in which I gathered a rich harvest of observations, 
in a subsequent work. 
On the way to Cherchen we visited the ruins of Wash- 
shahri ; and there I bought from a native an antique 
copper can.* Then we came to the Cherchen-daria, and 
so through its scanty woods to the town of Cherchen. 
See the illustration, p. 783. 
