CHAP. VIII.] VISITS TO CHINESE OFFICIALS 127
familiarise the officials of the Chinese provincial Government with the purpose of my intended explorations and to secure their goodwill, which I realised would be an indispensable condition for the practical execution of my plans. In this direction too I could not have wished for more effective help than that which Mr. Macartney accorded to me. Already the initial visits which I was . able to pay in his company to the Tao-tai, or Provincial Governor, and the other chief dignitaries were under such expert guidance most instructive to me and full of interest. In the course of these visits, followed as they were by " return calls " and other less formal interviews, I was introduced to at least a rudimentary knowledge of the " form " and mariners which Chinese etiquette considers essential for polite intercourse. It was no small advantage to receive this instruction through a mentor so familiar with all Chinese notions and ways as Mr. Macartney. Every little act and formality, quaint and strangely contrary to our habits as it often seemed, thus acquired its due significance, until in the end when visiting strange ` Yamens ' far away from my Kashgar friends, I found a comforting assurance in the rigid uniformity of these observances.
It was essential to secure from the Tao-tai the issue of clear instructions to the Amban of Khotan which were likely to assure me all needful assistance in regard to transport, supplies, and labour, as well as full freedom for my movements. In view of the serious difficulties which through a sort of demi-official obstruction Captain Deasy had experienced in the same region only eighteen months earlier, it seemed doubtful at first whether the way would be effectively cleared for my operations, particularly so far as they related to survey work south of Khotan. That the efforts which Mr. Macartney undertook on my behalf proved in the end entirely
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