THROUGH ASIA 
1258 
upon a European. I soon grew weary of the gay feast- 
ings, and felt awkward and out of place amid the splendid 
throng. The change from the lonely deserts of Tibet, of 
Tsaidam, of Gobi was too sudden to suit me. 
After a rest of twelve days I said adieu to my many 
new friends and turned my face homewards. Mr. Pavloff 
very kindly undertook to look after my baggage, and have 
it transported right across Siberia free of expense. I had 
three routes to Europe to choose between. The shortest 
was via Vancouver and New York ; the most comfortable 
by the mail-boats touching at India and going through the 
Suez Canal ; the third, the longest and most fatiguing, was 
the overland route through Mongolia and Siberia. This 
was nevertheless the route I selected, so that once more 1 
travelled across Asia, though this time it was under very 
different conditions. I rode in a two-wheeled Chinese cart, 
at express speed, across the endless plains, deserts, and 
steppes of Gobi, through Sair-ussu and Urga, to Kiakhta. 
The cart was drawn by four mounted Mongols, by 
means of two ropes fastened to the ends of the cart-shafts. 
A cross-bar, thrust through loops in the rope near the 
shaft-ends, was held by two of the men on their knees ; 
whilst the other two men tied the ends of the ropes round 
their waists ; and away we went at full gallop across the 
steppes, the cart rattling and jolting so that 1 was almost 
shaken to a mummy. You can only travel at this express 
speed under the authorization of a special pass from the 
Tsung Li Yamen. Couriers are sent on in advance at 
each stage, so that you always find horses waiting for you. 
There are twenty mounted men to each stage. As soon 
as one set of four are tired, another set take their places ; 
and the change is made so swiftly and so deftly that 
the traveller scarcely notices it, unless he happens to 
be looking out of the front window at the time. There is 
no well-defined track, and there are no stations, except the 
tent-villages of the Mongols. This circumstance, that we 
were dependent upon the nomads for horses, explains why 
we were unable to follow any well-known path. Each 
relay of Mongols rode straight for the next encampment, 
