IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
CH. I..I
NOVEL DIFFICULTIES 13
for the market, here held daily, had long been closed. My
men, the Indians included, naturally grew impatient and
annoyed at the endless delays caused by what they took
for cussed contrariness in the ` heathen Khitai.' I myself
felt plainly brought face to face with a great shift of the
social background. Here in the very centre of Asia I
seemed somehow forced into touch again with features
of civilization familiar enough in the far-off West. It
amused me to think what our experiences would have
been, had our caravan suddenly pitched camp in Hyde
Park, and expected to raise supplies promptly in the
neighbourhood without producing coin of the realm !
Next morning the icy eastern gale was still blowing
unabated. All the men not engaged over the scanty
kitchen fires sought warmth and oblivion from discomforts
past and present by a long day-sleep cuddled up in their
furs. But it was a busy day for me. Early in the morn-
ing I had a long interview with a big deputation from the
Turkestan traders settled in the town, who had come to
pay their respects to me as a quasi-compatriot of official
standing. The trade interests they represented were
small, and it did not take long to realize that most of them
had retired to Tun-huang from Hami, Charklik, Turfan, in
order to find a safe refuge from inconvenient creditors or
lawsuits. But the plentiful supply of camels which Tun-
huang offered for hire had enabled them to extend their
ventures far to the east and south. As long residence
had made them familiar with local conditions in Kan-su, I
was eager to gather from them as much as possible of the
practical information needed for my immediate plans. It
was interesting to learn that manufactured imports from
Urumchi, Lan-chou, and Khotan seemed to compete here
on approximately equal terms. The Mongol grazing-
grounds in the high valleys and plateaus towards Tibet
offered good customers for them in exchange for wool
and skins.
Long before I started on this journey I had been struck
by the geographically important position which the oasis of
Tun-huang occupies near the point where the greatest old
high road of Asia from east to west is crossed by the direct
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