“I would that I were as I have been,
Hunting the Hart in Forest Green,
With bended bow and bloodhound free,
O that’s the life for Joy and me”
--_Scott_
The wisdom of an early start soon became apparent when we were obliged
literally to cut our way through forest undergrowth for hours on
end. Starting with a steep climb, we had to dodge the water which
was pouring down in rivulets between the trees. The erstwhile track
had been washed away and now formed the bed of a torrential river,
which having scattered the loose material was in parts quite deep.
The horses floundered about in great distress and uncertainty for
some time, and finally we decided that there was nothing for it but
to make a path for ourselves through the thicket--fortunately not of
a particularly dense description. To make the whole concern narrower,
one pony was unhitched, and I led him, while the men struggled to get
the tarantass through the trees, branches from which had from time to
time to be hacked off in order to let it pass. Frequently we had to
negotiate rushing streams. One of us would leap over first to receive
the leading rein of the loose pony--anything but a docile little
beast--which would then jump across. It went down once, but fortunately
was none the worse, and the Jamschik was on ahead and did not see it.
I also went down once, in the very middle of a stream, the banks of
which had not afforded a very good take-off. Amusement in that instance
seemed to deprive my fellow-traveller of all sympathy.
Our gymnastic feats, however, were not such as to swamp our
appreciation of the scenery around us. It was as though one gardener
had decided to make a rockery of ferns and foliage whilst the other had
come along and sewn seeds of every variety of flowers among them. We
feasted on the sight and scent. It was marvellously pretty here, and
we lamented that the Jamschik saw fit to press on, and bring us, after
some strenuous hours, to an open hill-side before he would allow us to
outspan and have tiffin. Certainly it was dry enough there; hot beyond
expression. The weather had undergone a sharp reaction, and we sat
grilling in the sun until our thoughtful driver rigged up a sailcloth,
when the effect of our hard morning’s work, to say nothing of lunch,
induced us to succumb promptly to a siesta in its shade.
As to why the Jamschik should loaf now when but a few hours previously
he had hurried us uncomfortably, we could not fathom until in the
late afternoon we arrived on the banks of the Hara Gol, the most
important river on our route, and found it to be so high that it might
be another two days before we could get over in safety. Other people
had been hung up in the same way, and we fraternised with a large
family of Russians whose destination was the gold-mining district to
the north-east of Urga. It was here that my fellow-traveller and I had
our first--and almost our only--difference of opinion. I had my own
notions as to suitable places for camping out, and did not at all wish
to do so upon ground that from time to time was covered with water,
and which after all was only temporarily dried-up swamp. I was certain
that we should be much harassed by mosquitoes. We were both rather
tired, and--shall I admit it?--I, at least, felt a bit irritable. In
turn we had each indulged in a considerable bath in the river, but I,
being in no sense a strong swimmer, had to content myself with a muddy
backwater, instead of plunging into the stream. On my return I found
that the superior sex had settled matters and had unpacked upon a piece
of ground about 300 yards only from the little encampment belonging to
our Russian neighbours, instead of, as I had wished, driving back a
mere mile to a delightful hill-side where we should be free from the
pest which had been my greatest trial throughout my sojourn in the
East. As a matter of fact, the Jamschik had had, I suppose, the casting
vote; moreover, our neighbours might have felt hurt had we gone so far
away, so, with his usual consideration for the feelings of others, my
fellow-traveller had given way during my absence.
I was, again I admit it, decidedly cross, and found great relief in
putting my gun together (for the first time, for it was practically a
new toy), stuffing my pockets full of ammunition, and stalking off by
myself to some marshy land at a considerable distance from the camp.
My new toy was tremendously soothing to my feelings, and I banged
away a dozen or so cartridges--incidentally killing a wild fowl which
I was unable to retrieve--with great satisfaction. A small lame boy
appeared from nowhere, and followed me about in delighted anticipation
of empty cartridge cases. I tried to kill at too great a range. There
were wild geese and duck in plenty, but they circled above my head,
making derisive squawks at me; and finally with the lightest of light
bags I got back to our camp happy and hungry. I managed to maintain
a dignified reserve throughout dinner, at the end of which, however,
rested and replete, we decided that formality and strained relations
on the banks of a river a thousand miles away from civilisation were
hardly consistent with our philosophy. A confidential little talk
during our after-dinner stroll in the dusk put matters right again.
As a matter of fact we scored decidedly in making friends with the
Russian miners. One of the party spoke a little German, and we were
thus enabled to trade tinned food and chocolate for the fresh meat and
bread which they had killed and baked on the river banks. Next day we
fed royally, and I maintain that the best râgout I have ever tasted was
the result of my own genius in allying well-soaked, dried apricots with
half a leg of mutton, and stewing the lot for hours. The apricots made
an admirable substitute for the vegetables we were unable to procure.
The smell arising from our delicious stew, must, we thought, be making
the Jamschik’s mouth water considerably, and at some sacrifice to
ourselves--it was hungry work, this trekking--we decided to invite
him to share the feast. What was my disgust, chagrin, when he dug his
jack-knife into the saucepan and speared out the meat, deliberately
pouring off all the gravy and apricots upon the ground. There was
nothing to be done, but I swore there and then that this was the last
time I would invite any foreigner to share pot luck of my providing.
But if the Jamschik did not appreciate the râgout, the dogs did.
I had been driven by the onslaughts of the mosquitoes to sleeping
rather uncomfortably in the tarantass, and all through the night I
was disturbed by these horrible animals prowling about underneath,
sniffing round the sleeping forms of the men under the sailcloth. They
did not appear to be conscious of them, but later I discovered that the
Jamschik slept with one ear at least on the “qui vive,” for apparently
he knew his own horses’ footsteps among a hundred, and got up in the
dead of night to hobble them when they wandered together with scores
of others too near to the camp.
Apart from the dogs, the persistently inquisitive Mongol boys, and
the mosquitoes, camping on the banks of the Hara Gol returns to my
memory as one of the pleasantest episodes in the journey. I found a
perfect bathing place a little lower down the river, with a hard,
shingly bottom, and though not in the current it was perfectly clear
and away from the public gaze. From yourts far and near we were visited
by Mongols, who usually, when they found that we did not speak their
language and could convey no news to them in consequence, spent but
a few minutes in making their inspection and rode off again. On one
occasion we witnessed a very amusing sight. We had given a particularly
ragged lama some odds and ends of food, and a squabble immediately
arose between him and another. They quickly came to blows, when the
smaller man, finding himself outmatched, stopped suddenly, and picking
up a large boulder proceeded to hammer the head of his adversary. The
Russian sense of fairplay could not stand this, and a huge man with the
ruddy countenance of a David and the flaming beard combined with the
muscularity of a Samson, walked in, and seizing each man by the scruff
of his neck, hurled the twain apart, to the great glee of the onlookers.
At a very early hour of our third day’s camp, I was awakened with the
news that the river had gone down sufficiently to admit of a trial
trip to cross it. A great deal of preparation was necessary in order
to keep things dry, and when we were about the middle of the river it
was just “touch and go” lest the water would overflow the sides of the
tarantass. A great caravan of us crossed together, Russians, Chinese,
and a rabble of Mongols, who, stripped almost naked, carried over our
loads on their saddle bows. I regretted afterwards that I took no
photograph of the crossing, but I was far too much occupied in keeping
my camera and cartridges dry to think of doing so.
The next two stages offered no special attraction in the matter of
scenery, and we broke into the routine of the day only by leaving our
tarantass for the space of an hour that we might inspect at closer
quarters what looked uncommonly like a foreign building about half a
mile away from the road. It turned out to be quite a large flour mill
called Wang Ch’ang Shan, belonging to a Chinese firm, and employing
apparently some twenty-five to thirty men. Although they offered us tea
and sold us some eggs and stodgy little dough rolls at high prices,
they maintained that baffling reserve as to their business, which
amounts only to the polite Chinese method of telling you to mind yours.
Another couple of hours brought us to an unexpected little oasis in
the shape of a promising and well-built house in Russian style, but
owned fortunately by a young Chinaman, who welcomed us most warmly and
who could not do enough for us. We sat on chairs and ate a delicious
tiffin of lightly boiled eggs, toasted dough rolls, and _samovar_ tea,
at a table in great comfort, after which Mr. Gull thought to crown all
by indulging in a luxurious siesta in--what looked like--a nice clean
little bedroom adjoining. I sat and read a book over a final cup of
tea. I had not settled down for more than ten minutes when the peace
was suddenly disturbed by execrations coming from the other room,
and an earnest entreaty that I should send in the Chinese proprietor
at once “to see”. He did so, and found the usually philosophical
Englishman rampant and furious. Biting him, crawling over his clothes
and on the cork mattress which he had taken in with him, were numbers
of large and lively--I must write it--bugs. Nothing but a complete bath
in a very small basin, followed by a change of all his clothes--which
involved the entire unpacking of the tarantass--would soothe him.
The incident had really a humorous side, for we had, in theory,
contemplated encounter with every variety of carnivorous insect on our
journey; and then at first sight to produce such a hullabaloo!
Our Chinese host was careful to explain that the majority of his guests
who made use of his rooms were less cleanly than ourselves, and that
the Russians who were his most frequent visitors were “dirty pigs”. He
was himself suffering from a highly inflamed condition of both eyes,
and was mightily pleased when I gave him some “foreign medicine” with
the use of which I predicted a speedy cure, as well as showing him
how to open his eye in a wine-glass. I bore the mild contempt of my
fellow-traveller with the patience bred of faith, and nobly refrained,
when some weeks later we returned from Urga and found that the solution
of boracic acid had done its work in effecting a complete cure, from
saying, “I told you so”.
The night following we were far away from all humanity and passed
the night sheer out on the open hill-side down by the wheels of the
tarantass. We had had a long and somewhat dreary drive, twelve hours in
all, exclusive of a midday rest. To go to sleep with a vision of heaven
beyond the twinkling stars is one thing--to wake up in the cheerless
grey dawn, saturated with dew and stiff with cold, is another. We had
little difficulty in starting off at four o’clock that morning, and I
do not remember that there was a great deal of conversation between the
three of us for the first couple of hours or so.