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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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gave me one day a sumptuous feast in a fruit garden a short
distance outside Yarkand. Few people know the way to enjoy
life and make themselves comfortable better than these
merchants. We first of all sat about under the shade of the
trees, while huge bunches of grapes and delicious melons and
peaches were freshly plucked and brought to us to eat. Then
dinner was announced, and after water for washing the hands
had been passed round, we set to at dish after dish of "pillaos"
and stews, all beautifully cooked, and we ended up with a
pudding made of whipped egg and sugar and some other
ingredients, which it would be hard to beat anywhere. All
the time the merchants were chaffing away amongst themselves,
and were as "gay" and talkative as Frenchmen. You could
scarcely wish for better company or more genial hosts. On
the way home we had races, each merchant trying to make
out that his own horse was better than the others. These
men are a curious mixture of Eastern gravity and politeness,
and boyish spirits and fun. They will come to call on you,
and talk away with the greatest solemnity and deference. You
meet them next day out for a burst of enjoyment, and every
sign of gravity is thrown away, and they are as free and natural
and full of life as children.
With the aid of a committee of some of these, my prepara-
tions for the attack of the Mustagh Pass progressed most
favourably. The services of a first-rate guide were secured;
his name was Wali, and he was a native of Askole, the nearest
village on the Baltistan side of the pass. He had come to
Yarkand by the route many years before, but undertook to
say he had not forgotten it, and could guide me by it all right.
Beside him, three other Baltis were enlisted to carry loads, if
it should be found impossible to take ponies over the pass.
Thirteen ponies were bought, and four Ladakis engaged to
look after them. Among these Ladakis was a man named
Mohamed Esa (formerly Drogpa), who had accompanied Messrs.
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