IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| History of the Expedition in Asia, 1927-1935 : vol.3 |
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Citation Information
ions to get to Hami, and would then have 2,030 gallons left. With this supply we ought to be able to cover the necessary length of road if nothing unforeseen occurred. We hoped, too, to be able to buy Russian petrol in Urumchi.
We thought of making a reconnoitring trip to Hami, the nearest oasis-town in Sinkiang, taking the small car and one of the lorries. Only HU1vrnŒL, YEW, GEORG and TSERAT were to accompany me. We considered this tempting plan for a long time, and it appealed to everyone. But when we had slept on it and considered it afresh, we decided to wait till the couriers had come back from Suchow. They might bring us important instructions and news.
NEWS FROM CHINA
On the evening of January 5th, CHEN picked up a broadcast from Nanking which told us that between 2,000 and 4,000 Turkis at Hami had rebelled against General MA CHUNG-PING, forcing him to retire to Turfan. This news compelled us to await the return of CHAGDUR and LIANG from Suchow.
On the following day news reached us from Hami. A report that the leader of the Khalkha refugees on the Edsen-gol had somehow received, to the effect that all was quiet at Hami, did not seem particularly reliable. But this was nevertheless confirmed when CHEN picked up the Nanking radio again, with the message: »All quiet at Hami. The Nanking Government is sending a commission there to negotiate! »
THE KHALKHA REFUGEES
As mentioned above, there are some Khalkha refugees on the Edsen-gol. They count some seventy families in all, which is rather many, as the Torguts themselves consist of only about a hundred families. Their merin or chief, CHANGEROP, was said to be in secret communication with the Khalkha Mongols who lived in the Ma-tsung-shan in the Pei-shan, between the Edsen-gol and Hami. Their chief was called NARAVACHING GEGEN.1 The Torgut prince allowed the Khalkhas to settle by his river only if they had sufficient means to guarantee their own and their families' upkeep — otherwise they might not stay, but had to go somewhere else. Later on we visited CHANGEROP MERIN, who had been in prison at Urga for many years, fleeing when the Soviet régime entered the City of the Red Warrior.
1 The leader of all the Khalkha refugees in Inner Mongolia was Dn.owA GEGEN, whom we last met at Batu-khalagh-sume. At that time he was negotiating for a government reserve for his compatriots in the Pei-shan region. F. B.
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