1 240 
THROUGH ASIA 
remembered Przhevalsky quite well, and called him 
Nikola (Nikolai Mikhailovitch). He said Nikola had 
visited him many years ago. 
Wang-yeh-fu boasts of a plethora of names. The 
Chinese also call it Fu-ma-fu and Ding-yuan-ying. The 
Mongol names for it are Noyin, Ala-sha, Ala-sha-wang, 
and Ya,men-dolo ; the last two indicating that it is 
the residence of the prince. The town lay about a dozen 
miles from the foot of the Ala-shan Mountains, which 
stretched from north to south, though they were scarcely 
visible owing to the clouds and the dust. There was 
a by-path over them to Ning-sha, but we thought it better 
for the camels to make the circuit round their southern 
extremity. The little town was said to have between 
2000 and 3000 inhabitants, one-half Chinese, the other 
half Mongols ; but it is not without importance, being the 
principal emporium of the Ala-shan Mongols, the place 
where they barter their raw produce for household appur- 
tenances, clothes, jewellery, flour, etc., brought thither 
by the Chinese. 
In the neighbourhood of Wang-yeh-fu the country was 
rather broken. A stream winding through the hills 
supplied the town with water, and in the season of flood 
was said to terminate in a lake. Nobody knew anything 
about a permanent lake in that part of the desert. The 
nomads were encamped beside the streams which crossed 
the steppes in the vicinity of the town. Most of the 
Mongols I saw in Wang-yeh-fu wore a half-Chinese, half- 
Mongol costume, that is to say, over their furs they wore 
coloured Chinese waistcoats, with gilt-plated buttons. 
The town possessed a handsome Chinese temple built 
in the usual style. Its pagoda and tower rivalled in 
height the larches that were planted round about it. The 
fact of their embowering their temples amid larches says 
a good deal for the artistic sense of the Chinese, for the 
broad sweeping branches harmonize well with the hollow 
upcurving roofs and consequently make an agreeable back- 
ground. 
On January 14th we did a short stage, past several 
