Across Asia : vol.1 / Page 239 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0239	Across Asia : vol.1

RECORDS OF THE JOURNEY

My yigit, a Kalmuk of the Surgan summun, mounted.

It was a cold night, but luckily there was no snow. In the evening a splendid log fire May 13th.

was built, round which the Kalmuks and my men ate a huge pälaw. The sarai, which is Kirghiz

falling to pieces, provided some of the fuel and goodness only knows when someone will camp at

have the bright idea of repairing this hovel which is the traveller's only protection from Kharosun.

winter storms and snow in a plain of 35-4o miles in width. I treated Nasumbatoff and his

brother to a bottle of cognac purchased in Qulja. The Kalmuks, whose appetites are

amazing, asked after the pälaw, if they might boil their usual soup and I generously gave

them the half of a sheep with which I had been presented. The geese and ducks that

several of us including Numgan, had failed to hit, could be heard until late at night in

a marsh close to the camp. It was a lovely evening and I sat up long after my usual time

for retiring, chatting with my numerous Kalmuk companions.

We had a ride of only eight miles to a Kirghiz camp, the yurts of which are nearest

to the Aghias gorge. These Kirghiz spend the winter in the gorge and migrate for the

summer to the valley of the Tekes, the grazing grounds of which, E of the Musur su gorge,

belong to them and to Kirghiz, who spend the winter further east in the mountains. My

host, who is the judge among a population of ioo yurts, had put up a very well furnished

kibitka for me. A huge dark-brown eagle, trained to hunt, had been placed at the entrance

as a sentinel in my honour. My host said that he hunted wolves with this eagle. Tea

was served from a large, nickel-plated samovar in his own kibitka, which was amply

furnished with boxes with metal fittings and embroidered covers. On the way there we

passed a couple of dozen Kirghiz yurts. Here they are called Khaza by the Chinese and

Khazak by the rest of the population. The people are surprisingly clean and well dressed.

The women wear coloured cotton dresses, often decorated with ribbons sewn on to the

skirt, and over them black bodices of slightly shiny cotton cloth cut in the shape of a sleeve-

less coat. The traditional Mohammedan sash is knotted round the black bodice and over

233 (

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books