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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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the Gobi. I felt as if I were a regular tippler in the delight
with which I heard the pop of the cork, and saw the wine
gurgling out into the tumbler. It was not improved by the
jolting of the journey and the heat, but was uncommonly good
for all that.
The following day we continued over the plain, on which
we passed two or three herds of wild asses, and on the 11th
we reached a large Mongol encampment named Man-chin-tol,
in a plain at the foot of the first spurs of the Altai Mountains,
on the higher points of which we could see slight traces of
snow. Water was plentiful, being found in small pools all
over the plain. It had, however, a brackish taste, and there
was soda efflorescence on the margin of the pools.
During the morning a small caravan of twenty camels from
Su-chow pitched camp near us. It belonged to a Chinese
merchant trading amongst the Mongols. We bought some
black beans for the camels, and shiau-mi (small millet) for
porridge for myself.
I had a general hit out all round to-day. On asking the
guide how many days it was to Hami, he said twenty, but
only thirteen remain to make up the sixty, which is the
contract time. I told my boy to explain this to him, and tell
him that he would not get eighteen taels for the half camel
extra. He muttered something about having lost a camel and
being delayed in buying new ones, and about the rain and the
wind. But I explained to him that I was paying a high price,
and had taken light loads to go quickly, and that fifty days
was the time in which I ought to get to Hami, but that sixty
days was put in the contract to cover all risks of rain, etc. ; and
finally I told him that I had a passport from the Tsung-li-
yamen, and that all the mandarins had been written to, to give
me help, so that when I arrived at Hami, and told the Yamen
how he had delayed me on the road, there would be a row.
But I am afraid all this talking won't get me to Hami any the
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