FROM KOKO-NOR TO TEN-KAR 1173 
by the din. Earlier in the day I had sent Parpi Bai on 
in advance to take my pass to the governor of the town. 
That dignitary now met us at the gate, bringing a letter 
from the “ Russian lady,” with a hearty invitation to share 
her hospitality. I felt it was rather presumptuous to 
quarter myself altogether upon a solitary lady. Never 
theless 1 decided — perhaps it was curiosity drove me — 
at any rate to go and pay her a visit. When I reached 
the house indicated, a good Chinese house with an oblong 
courtyard, I was met by a bareheaded young lady wearing 
spectacles and dressed after the Chinese manner. She 
asked me, in a very friendly tone, “ Do you speak 
English?” I told her, “Yes, I thought so”; and very 
soon our tongues were going' at express speed. She 
introduced herself as Mrs. Reinhard, an American doctor 
of medicine. Her husband was the Dutch missionary, 
Mr. Reinhard, who fully a month earlier had started 
for Peking with Captain Wellby, who was on his wa)- 
home from his journey across Tibet. 
Mrs. Reinhard was the personification of hospitality 
and amiability. It was quite a pleasure to talk to 
somebody whose interests ranged beyond grass and 
pastures, dangerous passes, wild yaks, cattle and sheep. 
H er husband’s courage in venturing to leave her behind 
alone among the rabble of Ten-kar truly astonished me. 
But there was not so much danger perhaps after all ; for 
throuofh her medical knowledge and skill Mrs. Reinhard 
had won several friends among the native population. 
I stayed two days in Ten-kar so as to give the horses 
a thorough good rest. I paid a visit to the governor 
of the town, looked over the town itself, and had the 
rare fortune to make the acquaintance of the ambassador, 
whom every third year the Dalai Lama sends from Lhasa 
to the Emperor of China, carrying presents, the only 
tribute the Tibetans pay to the lord of the Celestial 
Empire. The presents generally consist of different 
kinds of cloth, burkhans (images of Buddha), weapons, 
dried fruits, objects possessing a religious significance, 
sandalwood, and so forth, to the aggregate value of 
