CHAP. xxxiii.] RETURN TO KASHGAR 491
tress prevailed ; and even in the palatial halls of Chini-Bagh, which I again occupied, the mud roofs were soon leaking so badly that I felt serious concern about the safety of my antiquities. However, the heavy downpour had delightfully cooled the air, and thus the 140 odd miles to Kashgar, which I covered in less than three days, was a thoroughly enjoyable ride.
The morning of May 12th, a brilliantly clear day and full of the sensation of spring, saw me once more at Chini-Bagh under Mr. Macartney's hospitable roof, which I had left almost exactly eight months before. The warmest welcome greeted me there, and in the company of such kind friends I found it difficult to realise how long I had been cut off from personal touch with Europe. I might have feared to tire my hosts by a pent-up torrent of talk, had I not been assured by so many proofs of the constant interest with which Mr. Macartney had from afar followed my explorations. It was a source of keen pleasure to me to be able to show him what ample results had attended my work, and how much I owed to that local help which his influence and care had mainly assured me.
The kind hospitality I enjoyed made my stay at Kashgar a period of welcome physical rest, notwithstanding the multifarious preparations that kept me constantly at work. The Government of India in the Foreign Department, in accordance with the request I made before my start from Calcutta, had obtained for me permission from the authorities in St. Petersburg to travel through Russian Turkestan and to use the Trans-Caspian Railway for my return to Europe. I had also been authorised to take my archæological collections for temporary deposit to England, where alone convenient arrangements could be made for their scholarly examination. It hence became necessary at Kashgar to repack all my antiquarian finds with special regard for safe transport on this long journey, while all surveying instruments and other equipment, together with the records of our survey work, were to be sent back to India viâ Hunza in charge of the Sub-Surveyor.
While the fresh transport arrangements thus necessitated by our different routes demanded much careful attention, I was also kept
IIIF Color HighRes
