The three craziest of the camels were kept tied up the whole day to be starved and cowed. One of them was the leader of the revolt. He was to have a new peg through his nose, and it took four powerful Mongols to force his will. He would not lie down. The fellows slung a rope round one of his fore-feet, took it between the humps and then hung on it on the other side with all their weight to get him to bend his leg and go down on his knees. Finally they got him down. But he then rose up on his hind legs, reared and plunged and bucked in the most vicious way. He was blazingly angry and a positive danger. LIEBERENZ was able to film his stubborn fight.
We took tally of the camels in the evening and found that three were missing. Of these there was hope of getting one back. The other two might be wiped off the slate, but it was perhaps just as well, since they were completely off their heads.
On July 27th TSERAT, our intelligent Chinese-speaking Mongol, returned from his journey to Peking, where he had been obliged to wait for twelve days while my representative in Peking procured a ZEISS Reisetheodolit from the firm of CAiu owrTz in Tientsin. Chronometers, on the other hand, were unprocurable. TSERAT had had no unpleasant adventures on the road and he had carried out his commission like a white man.
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