National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
290 HALT AT SU-CHOU
CH. LXXV1
us, chimed in from time to time with a word of cheerful interest.
Yet this pleasant gathering did not end without leaving awkward doubts about the immediate tasks I had
set my mind upon. In accordance with Chinese custom
and guided by Chiang's advice, I utilized the last courses for ` talking business ' with regard to my proposed expedi-
tion into the Nan-shan. I needed transport and guides,
and local assistance towards securing them. I knew well that Kan-su people, officials and others, did not share my
love for the mountains, and that apprehension of my con-
templating a move into territory where Chinese authority was not respected, might raise difficulties. But I was
not prepared to hear the assembled authorities, civil and
military, declare, in unison and with the gravest air, that there were absolutely no routes to the head-waters of the
rivers of Su-chou and Kan-chou which I wished to explore ; that the mountains and valleys were all inaccessible owing to ` wild Tibetan robbers ' and dangers of all sorts ; and, finally, that not even the combined power of my influential hosts could ever induce Kan-su people to venture into that terra incognita.
It was useless to point out that the high valleys from which the rivers of the Su-chou and Kan-chou oases descend were well known to be within the Chinese administrative border ; that Russian travellers had visited them in
parts ; and that peaceful Chinese were from time to time washing gold in several places. Nor would my honest
assertion that Kan-chou and not Tibet was my goal, make
any impression. If I had possessed my own pony transport I could have afforded to treat the objections of my
official patrons with some equanimity, and relied on making
my way into the mountains without local assistance. But I could afford neither the time nor the money to purchase
the sixteen ponies needed for a trip of only about four weeks, and, consequently, the Su-chou dignitaries would only have to maintain their non possumus attitude in order to frustrate my long-planned explorations in these mountains.
No doubt their attitude was due solely to the wish of
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