284 IN TIBET AND CHINESE TURKESTAN.
their interest. He had borrowed money in copper from Boota Ram, but, entirely without warrant, he had entered into an informal understanding with him that the money would be repaid by a bill on Bombay at the rate of
6 tongas 20 dachen per rupee. When I now inquired of various traders at what rate they would buy a bill, they offered 6 tongas 20 dachen, though it was clear that, but for Boota Ram, they would have offered higher rates. I applied to Dr. Josef Messrur, the Persian missionary, for assistance, and he, very quietly, but with much trouble, sold a bill for me at the rate of
7 tongas 5 dachen per rupee for copper, or 21 dachen less for silver, so that I was able to repay Boota Ram the borrowed copper money, and to depri ve him and Raju of their prospective gains. When, in making the repayment, I tendered interest to that mild Hindu, he assumed his most innocent and injured look, and said reproachfully that he could not dream of making money out of me. Raju looked deeply disgusted, but his share in the matter I passed over in silence, for, on the principle that " the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know," I resolved not to part with him. In his purchases of ponies and donkeys for me, he had, indirectly, made some gains for himself, but this was to be expected, and, at all events, I had now suitable animals, fresh and in good condition, so that I was ready to set out for Kashgar. Despatching Raju to the Kugiar district to buy four camels by way of experiment in my next journey into Tibet, and leaving Abdul Karim to look after the tired animals, I set out for Kashgar on February 10th by the Khan Arik route, intending to get good values for the longitudes of the various halting-places. I subsequently learned that Dr. Sven Hedin had travelled by a part of this route, but I had then neither his book nor his map to enlighten me.
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