1234 
THROUGH ASIA 
travel in Asia had been occasioned by Chinese officials, 
and I preferred my tent in the desert to being cooped up 
within the walls of a Chinese guest-house with its un- 
desirable parasites. 
Accordingly on ist January 1897, when I was ready to 
leave Ching-fan, Mr. Mandarin thought I should not escape 
him without some evidence of his authority. Two Chinese 
soldiers came to me, and said they were commanded to 
escort me through the desert, hut they could not get their 
horses and provisions ready under two or three days. 1 
answered, that I had not asked for an escort, and did not 
intend to wait a minute for them ; and at once ordered my 
men to load up and get off as soon as they could. 
W e reached the outside of the gate, but were then 
stopped by a troop of men from the yamen (official 
residence of the governor), saying that I must wait until 
the next day, my Mongol pass was not ready ; and if 
I refused to wait, they were instructed to detain me by 
force. Bidding the caravan wait outside the gate, I went 
straight to the yamen ; for I was exasperated by this petty 
official insolence. The governor refused to see me ; he was 
ill. I was confronted in a filthy room by a dozen clerks, 
all smoking opium, and all shouting and trying to keep me 
back at one and the same time. As soon as I could make 
myself heard, I referred to the passport I had from Peking, 
and said that if the mandarin prevented me from travelling 
further, I should report his behaviour to Li Hung Shang 
through the Russian ambassador, and he would lose both 
his rank and his position. Phis impressed the recalcitrant 
official. His interpreter came back with an invitation 
to breakfast. I replied with the utmost contempt, that I 
should do no such thing, and demanded that his master 
should instantly send me the Mongol pass, and also 
the two soldiers as an escort. After this the clerks con- 
descended to be polite. They laid aside their opium-pipes ; 
and in a trice both pass and escort were ready. Then we 
continued our journey, glad that we should have nothing 
more to do with Chinese mandarins until we reached 
N ing-sha. 
