14 FIRST HALT AT TUN-HUANG CH. LI
route connecting Lhasa, and through it India, with Mongolia and the southern portions of Siberia. Now, arrived on the spot, I was greatly struck to find that the region, the antiquities of which I was anxious to explore, had its modest marts impartially open to goods coming from China proper and its great ports in the East ; to Russian manufactured produce brought via Kashgar or Urumchi ; and even to British and Indian wares carried all the way from Khotan through the desert.
By noon I proceeded to the Ya-mên, where Ahmad, our Tungan interpreter, had previously carried in due form the announcement of my state visit along with the customary presents. Among the latter I had taken care to include the last piece of that fine yellow ` Liberty brocade ' which I had before found most appreciated by Chinese recipients among my introductory offerings. I reached the magistrate's Ya-mên in the midst of a howling dust storm, and having to make my entry in my best ` Europe clothes,' black coat, sun-helmet, and patent leather boots, felt the cold pervading all its halls intensely. Naturally I should have liked under such conditions to make the first interview as short as I could. But Wang Ta-lao-ye, the ` Hsien-kuan,' at once proved an official so exceptionally cultured and pleasant that, over the lively talk about things learned and ancient which with Chiang's eager assistance ensued between us, I soon forgot the physical discomforts and the intention they had prompted.
The magistrate was a sparely built middle-aged man, with a face expressing keen intelligence (Fig. 209). There was something in his combination of courtly manners, scholarly look, and lively talk which recalled dear P'an Ta-jén. I heard in due course that Wang Ta-lao-ye had just managed to dig out from his predecessor's office records the elegantly worded epistle by which my Tao-t'ai patron had recommended me to the magistrate's attention. He was evidently impressed by its contents ; and I instinctively felt that a kindly official providence had brought to Tunhuang just the right man to help me in my first work on these ancient Marches. Of course, I did not fail to make appropriate reference to my saintly guide and patron
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