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at Urga had caused a room to be prepared at the Consulate from the date of the receipt of M. Pokotilow's letter-seven months before my actual arrival. On arriving, how- ever, at Urga I inhabited a Chinese inn, feeling more independent in my movements, and it was the easier to decline the Russian hospitality without giving offence, as Mr. Shishmareff was himself in the country. In Uliassutai the Russian Consular officer would not hear of my taking any meals except in his house. My relations with the Acting Consul at Chuguchak were of an especially cordial character, while those with the Consul at Kuldja were extremely friendly. To one and all I explained in the course of private conversation, without laying any emphasis on the words, that I had no mission, that I was on my way home to England by this route, partly because of the hope of getting some sport, partly because of my interest in the vie intime of the Mongols, No secret was made of the route I had traversed, nor of that by which proposed
to travel.
Confidential. It is, however, my conviction that my visit was viewed by the Russiaus as an intrusion, and that a significance was attributed to the journey quite out of keeping with its character, and it is my duty to add that no doubt remains in my mind that all my movements and actions were noted and reported to Peking or St. Petersburgh.
The Belgian Minister in Peking courteously furnished me with an official letter of introduction to Mgr. Bermuyn, head of the Belgian Mission in the Ordos, which, together with a private letter from one of the Secretaries, proved very valuable.
One of the Secretaries of the Japanese Legation at Peking offered me a letter of introduction to a Japanese resident in Urumtsi, în case I should visit that town. This is interesting as showing that the Japanese Legation have cognizance of this man's presence at Urumtsi.
Relations with Chinese Officials.
The Wai-wu Pu were notified, when application for the passport was made at Peking, of the route by which I intended to travel. At the request of the Wai-wu Pu the Lifanpu Board (Board of Dependencies) informed various officials in the distant dependencies, and requested them to render all assistance possible. This notification had, I found, been sent to the principal of the Ordos Princes' Yamens, to Sair Ussu, where the roads for Urga and Uliassutai fork, and to the settlements of Northern Mongolia and Turkestan. It had not been my intention to call upon any Chinese officials en route, except in case of necessity as, apart from the tedium of the etiquette of Chinese visits, Chinese officials outside the Great Wall are apt to magnify the importance of the civilian traveller until the rumour is spread abroad that the British Minister himself is touring the provinces. The number of visits was, therefore, restricted to three in the first three months. In Northern Mongolia, however, it was different, for no foreign traveller can stay in the settlements without the Governor's permission. It was, therefore, essential and only courteous to call upon that individual. From every official visited I received the warmest welcome (not excepting the so-called anti-foreign one at Kobdo), and every mark of courtesy which a rigid Chinese etiquette imposes; in this respect, I was considerably assisted by my interpreter who, being a Manchu, was persona gráta, and who had indeed sometimes personal friends among the officials, or had worked in the same office with others, or had met them on duty in the Palace. To avoid all misunderstandings I endeavoured to make in each case the same explanations respecting the reason for the journey as I did to the Russian officials.
The following point is necessary to remember in order to maintain good relations in North Mongolia. To secure these with the Chinese cordial relations must be established with the Russians. The reason for this will be apparent. The Chinese officials have almost daily relations with the Russian Consular authorities. To get on badly with the latter is a serious matter for the Chinese official, involving possibly disgrace and loss of office. He will therefore do nothing to displease the Russians, and will see as much or as little of the casual foreign traveller according as the latter stands well or ill with the Russians. This attitude of deference to Russian officials is so extremely marked at Urga and Uliassutai that one could detect the note of anxiety in the Governor's voice as he asked whether a visit had been paid to the Russian Consul and the relief when the reply was in the affirmative.
The information obtained from Chinese officials, and which is recorded in these pages, was the result of merely friendly conversations, during which the various points on which I desire to obtain the most accurate information were carefully approached. Chinese officials, in the provinces at least, seem always ready to talk on what they have
done, what is happening locally, or who has passed, and if they are not quite certain they appeal to some of the retainers standing round, who know as much as their
masters.
Peking to Kalgan.
The day fixed for leaving Peking was the 6th April. On Sunday, the 5th April, the three "Peking" carts which had been hired to take us as far as Kweihuacheng were dispatched to Nankow under the charge of the travelling servants. The carts contained all the stores and equipment for the journey with the exception of personal luggage. A clear day was thus obtained to look round and see that nothing had been left undone.
The carts were obtained from the man who was employed in 1900 to lead the late Emperor's cart on his flight. The man was subsequently decorated. He is now an innkeeper on a large scale, and besides keeping one in Peking owns another in Kweihuacheng, &c. This is the reason why the carts could be hired comparatively cheap (said my boy), the price paid for each being 33 dollars a-day (7s.) This was for two good mules, the carter finding himself and the animals in everything. Had we only been going as far as Kalgan--where this man has no inn-we should have bad to pay for fourteen days (seven days there and as many back, or at least we should have been asked to pay.
I found out subsequently, however, that the proper price for carts between Peking and Kweihuacheng is not more than 20 dollars, especially when the frost is in the ground and the road consequently good. It depends of course to a certain extent on the season of the year, on which depend in their turn the price of fodder and the possibility of securing trade for the returning carts. Of the 50 dollars per cart which we paid, each carter got 28 dollars, the remainder being pocketed by the Peking owner, with a handsome commission for the "honest" servant, The carters had petitioned to be allowed to spend one night en route on the plain at their homes at Kuanshib, but I ordered them to proceed direct to Nankow. This order, however, did not prevent them carrying out their own inclinations.
I myself left at 1 P.M. on the 6th April, among the many kind friends who assembled at the Legation main gate to see me off being my faithful Lama teacher, who presented a silk scarf, the customary Mongol offering, which anticipates and requires a present in return. Of the Peking-Kalgan Railway it will suffice to say that I found great activity being displayed throughout the line. Work had been begun at the Kalgan end a week before my arrival, and it was confidently asserted that the whole line would be ready for use in 1910. A wild rumour had reached Peking that the extension of the line from Kalgan to Kweihuacheng had been already begun, but I found this to be entirely false; it possibly arose from the commencement of work at the Kalgan end of the line, or to the efforts of the Chinese at Kalgan to establish a motor-car service to Urga.
April 7.-My Peking servants let off the fire crackers which had been forbidden them in the Legation with great vehemence, and secured for me a safe journey free from the hill devils up the pass. Sending the carts on ahead we ascended the pass on donkeys. Passing the ancient Fort of Chüyungkwan we reached the inner Great Wall at 1 .M., only to find that the carts had mistaken their instructions, and taken lunch on to Chatao, a hamlet 14 miles down the other side of the mountains. This, however, was retrieved, and at 3 P.M. the final good-byes were said in the most fitting place, the archway spanning the great north road with a view down to the plain of Peking on the south side, while to the north the imaginative eye could look ahead over the valleys and mountain ranges to the Mongolian plateau. A remarkable feature of the valley leading up to the wall is the dearth of animal or bird life. There was, however, a steady flow of traffic, and the dust raised by this was terrible. Descending to Chatao the carts were in motion by 8-30 P.M., and we reached the valley of the Yangho, a tributary of the Hunho, over a rock-strewn road many inches deep in dust, and in no whit improved since I was last on it in 1906. We were in Hwailaihsien by 8:45 P.M., and put up at the same inn I had stayed at before. Our arrival in the inn was hardly hospitable, as we had to fight our way in, the gateway being blocked by heavy carts, from whom the gate-keeper was extracting a large squeeze, which he was unwilling to lose by letting them in to allow us to pass. We gained the day, however, and the carts owed us a debt of gratitude.
April 8.--We left Hwailai in a north-west direction. A cold south-east wind blew steadily all day, raising such volumes of dust that it was difficult to see the caravans even when close by. On our left in the distance there was deep snow on the tops of the Shaholing and Hsiao Wutaishan. There was a great deal of traffic on the road, camels bringing down bricks of salt or dried beans, donkeys carrying jars of
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