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ality, the purpose of his visit, &c., was simply laughable. It was easy for him to poison the minds of the ignorant Chinese officials, and set them against unoffending British travellers, and his efforts to this end showed the. narrow-minded Russian official. The belief which he propagated was that the Indian Government wished to extend the Indian frontier beyond the Hindu Kush, and he -insinuated that for this purpose I was working as their secret agent, as if any sane man would advise an attempt -to seize remote, barren mountains and sandy deserts. M. Petrovsky, like some others, had somehow adopted .the belief that Muz Tagh Ata could be seen from Kashgar, and when I told him the result of my observations. and calculations he keenly resented my statement. He had, without any inquiry, made up his mind that the mountain stood within his range of vision, and he was not to be shaken in his-belief by a British intruder with a theodolite.
Compared with the position of the Russian Consul-General, that of the representative of Great Britain
appeared very unsatisfactory. The office • filled by
Macartney is that of " Special Assistant for Chinese Affairs to the Resident in Kashmir," and the Chinese, when they find it convenient to make little of his position, do not hesitate to remind him that he has not even the rank or authority of a consul. He has no escort, and, up to 1898, he had no uniform, whereas the Russian Consul-General was and is able to drive up to the Yarnen wearing uniform and decorations becoming his rank, and attended by an escort of Cossacks. In the East., and especially in Sin-Chiang, the assertion of authority by the display of its outward signs is of great importance, and an official in mere civilian garb going unescorted to pay his official visits, seems to on-lookers half-disowned by his own government. Besides, an escort is required for the
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