1 104 
THROUGH ASIA 
to move about and exert ourselves without sufferinsf from 
shortness of breath, for we were not more than 9240 feet 
above the level of the sea. 
Although my Mohammedan attendants as an actual fact 
despised the Mongols, looking upon them as savages and 
heathens, both parties managed to get along very well 
together, and took pains to try and understand one 
another. I almost died with laughing to see the hideous 
grimaces and extraordinary gestures Dorcheh went 
through, and that with the profoundest gravity, in his 
efforts to make my men understand what he wanted to 
say. He shouted at the pitch of his voice, as though 
they were all stone-deaf, twisted his face about as though 
it were made of gutta percha, and jumped and flapped 
his arms as though he had been a cock. And when at 
length his meaning dawned upon his audience, his delight 
knew no bounds. He laughed loud and long, and kept 
on nodding his head like a Chinese porcelain doll with 
intense self-satisfaction. 
