FROM KOKO-NOR TO TEN-KAR 1175 
that was illuminated by flickering oil-lamps, and in front 
of which two men intoned prayers and beat gongs. 
At Ten-kar I seized the opportunity to replenish our 
provision-chests, and during the next few days lived a 
good deal upon eggs. The governor did not take the 
trouble to repay my visit ; whereupon I let his inter- 
preter understand, that his master had thereby failed 
to observe the rules of both Chinese and European 
courtesy. 
My hostess gave me several particulars of the revolt 
of the Duncans. She said the rebels invested the town 
of Ten-kar in the summer of 1895, and that the Chinese 
themselves provoked them to do so. When the insur- 
rection broke out in the neighbourhood of Si-ning-fu, 
the Chinese in Ten-kar at once began active preparations 
for strife, by casting cannon, forging sword-blades, and 
preparing various other equipments of war. Perceiving 
this, the Huy-huy, as the Mohammedan Chinese or 
Dungans were called, concluded that these preparations 
were directed against themselve.s. They too revolted, 
and withdrew to To-ba, a strongly fortified place on 
the way to Si-ning-fu. There however, after an obstinate 
resistance extending over several months, during which 
they subsisted upon the half-starved animals they had 
in the town, they were in the end so hardly pressed 
by the Chinese that they were compelled to capitulate. 
The terms upon which they were willing to yield, — 
namely, that they should be free to go whither they 
chose — were tied to an arrow, and shot over the wall 
into the Chinese camp. The Chinese agreed to the 
conditions ; but demanded that the inhabitants of the 
place should lay down their arms. Yet no sooner did 
the latter get clear of the town than they were sur- 
rounded by the Chinese, and most of them beheaded. 
The remnant escaped into the mountains. The number 
of Dungans who thus laid down their arms was stated 
to have been 18,000 men. 
These occurrences inspired the Dungans who still 
remained in Ten-kar with a sense of their insecurity. 
