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0438 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / Page 438 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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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