1 1 18 
THROUGH ASIA 
tired horses entered the western gate of the famous 
capital of the Far East ? I was growing tired of wander- 
ing about like a homeless exile among the half-savage 
tribes of Asia. I was become fairly familiar with them, 
and longed to get back among my own people and my 
own kin. My attendants, their several life-stories, their 
faiths, their knowledge — I knew them all through and 
through. I longed ardently for a change of companion- 
ship. 
At last, on the morning of October 25th, the stream 
had fallen sufficiently for us to cross. The boxes were 
tied as high up on the horses’ backs as we could get them, 
and each horse was led across separately. But every 
animal that crossed churned up the mud afresh, so that 
those which came last sank in the deepest. However 
all got over without mishap, and as soon as we were 
all on the right bank, the baggage was re-adjusted and 
we went off again. 
The path led across a desolate country in an almost 
perfectly straight line towards the north-north-east. Soon 
afterwards we crossed the main channel of the Khara-ussu, 
and then the Bulunghir-gol. The surface was not over 
and above comfortable to ride on, as it consisted of a 
hard crumbly clay, of a brownish grey colour, impregnated 
with salt, and it was full of holes and rough places like 
a coggled road. But there was an entire absence of 
drift-sand. Where we crossed it, the basin of Tsaidam 
was not particularly broad, and after a ride of fifteen and 
a half miles, we again came in sight of vegetation. But 
we had no water at our next camping-station, Tsakha-tsak. 
Loppsen had however warned us beforehand, and we took 
a supply with us in goatskins. 
We still had over 1240 miles to Peking! 
