cows, grey and black, both with horns and hornless. The size varied
very much, and you could see an undergrown little cow by the side of
one well-worth being exhibited, as an exeptionally fine specimen.
The milk had a good taste and a high percentage of fat. The sheep
seemed larger than those of the other nomadic tribes in Tienshan and
were not of the fat-tailed breed. -- The horses were small, fairly
well proportioned, and strong, but not handsome. Most of them were
knock-kneed. -- The dogs were chiefly Tangutan, large, dark-brown,
long-haired, very fine animals. -- The Yögurs complained of their many
sufferings during the protracted Dungan revolt, especially of their
loss of cattle, and that since that time they had never regained the
same degree of prosperity.
We spent New Year's Day in rifle practice. The t'umu had never fired a
shot and had not the very faintest idea of handling a gun. He screwed
up both eyes in the funniest manner when I made him try to shoot from
a rest with a Berdan gun which I had given him. There is no sport
worth mentioning among the Yögurs. Their fire arms are brought from
Sining and are of the usual type found in Central Asia, with a moveable
fork-like rest and a fuse.
There did not seem to be much game either in the neigbourhood, nothing
in the way to be seen but so called "kekliks" (mountain grouse) and
big vultures -- the Yögur grave diggers. Hares and wolves were said to
exist, and bears, in summer, but you never heard of the ibex, the wild
goat and other animals which are usual in the Tienshan heights. The
wild yak is found further south. I saw no traps or snares, except wolf
traps. They were round, with two strong springs attached at opposite
sides of the circle, which by the aid of two running rings caused
the two segments of the circle to close with force. They were placed
over a piece of cloth drawn over a wand, also bent into a circle of
the same size. A peg fastened to the outer circumference was threaded
through a loop in the centre of the circle, and kept the trap open till
something, trampling on the cloth, caused the peg to fly out of the
loop. -- You heard of no manly sports, and if games or races did take
place, they were not of the same extent, nor were they considered of so
much importance as among the Kalmucks and Khirgis.
Unfortunately I cannot add anything regarding the superstitious customs
of these tribes to the very interesting statements which were published
by Potanin in his book of travels. Either they would not initiate me
into these things or they were really free from superstition. They
pretended not to attach importance to dreams. They begged me not to
bring indoors an enormous old vulture which I shot, and they carefully
buried any scraps of meat found in the neighbourhood of the tent, but
remembering that the vultures eat the bodies of their dead, this seems
very natural.
During four months of the Chinese year, they gather together for the
purpose of chanting prayers at the "praying places" -- the heaps of
stones and tall poles, raised in the mountains, which I have described
before. At one of the heaps, raised in honour of the cattle god,
prayers are offered for the health and welfare of the cattle.
It was with real feelings of regret that, on the 2nd of January, I
left my hospitable hosts, the Shera Yögurs, and their little home
imbedded among the grassy hills, where we had spent such a pleasant New
Year's Day. All the men assembled round the saddled horses, to wish us
farewell. One held my horse's bridle, another the stirrup, a third gave
me a helping push into the saddle, while a fourth stood on the other
side ready to prevent me from overbalancing myself. As we rode past
the flocks of sheep where the women were busy with their usual work, I
reined iu my horse and shouted them a loud _tshuavá_ and _sujá_ (thanks
-- and -- goodbye), which evidently pleased them, judging by the smile
I received from the bright eyes of the _t'umu's_ adopted daughter --
bright dark eyes, into the depths of which both Lukanin, my Cossack,
and I, were tempted to gaze too long.
The valley of the _Kluadjek-gol_ opened at a short distance from the
_t'umu's_ home, into another, _Mör-gol_, where there were only traces
left of the river's course. We followed this narrow valley with its
steep grassy slopes in a NNW and N direction. A little higher the
surface of the rock was often visible. For a short distance the hills
were of a considerable height, but soon sank again, and after a ride of
seven km our direction was NNE and our road followed a water course,
with cakes of ice lying here and there. Four km further on the valley
which now bears the name _Talipin-gol_ began to widen and the hills on
both sides rose imposingly. Another half hour's ride brought us to the
great _Lansor's_ or _Neiman-gol_ valley in which the river forming a
wide bend, open to the north, pours its waters over a broad stony bed,
between one hundred and fifty and two hundred and fifty fathoms wide,
through one principal channel and several smaller ones. Along both
shores rose steep picturesque heights, of which those on the left shore
were of a warm terra-cotta red colour. We rode down the river in a
north-easterly direction following a road made along its right shore by
doukey caravans carrying coal. The bright-coloured cliffs hung closely
over the river-bed. High and steep on both shores, they precipitate
themselves headlong down to the water along the left shore. Encircling
a wide cultivated plain the hills retreat, again to encroach upon the
river some kilometres further to the NE. Amid groups of trees and small
fields the towers and embattled walls of a Chinese town delineate
themselves against the red background of hills on the left shore of
the river. We had arrived at the little town _Li-yen_, a name which in
Chinese means "the garden of peartrees" -- which name the place really
deserves for its good fruit-trees -- pear, apricot and nut. Twenty
years ago it was visited by _Potanin's_ expedition, when on his return
to Russia he crossed the Yögur country, and nothing can have changed
since then in the picturesque little place, where it lies encircled
by tall willow trees, in the close embrace of the heights surrounding
it. The yamen (the official building of the mandarin) destroyed in
the Dungan revolt, still lies half in ruins, the small temples built
high on the steep rocks are still there -- yes, all is the same, even
the reception accorded me was like that discribed by _Potanin_. The
friendly old mandarin was evidently, like his predecessor twenty years
ago, glad to see the face of a stranger, there were no bounds to his
courteous attentions. He sent me a delicious dinner, cooked, as I heard
later, by himself, when, in consequence of feeling ill and tired, I
was obliged to refuse his kind invitation to dine with him. The shark
fins tasted splendidly and when, next morning, during a farewell call,
his beautiful fur cape excited my admiration the deaf old gentlemen's
politeness went so far as to promise me on my next visit (!) five sable
skins -- one of those so characteristic civilities of the Chinese, "qui
n'obligent à rien et qui font toujours plaisir". On the following day
we rode to _Kanchenp'u_, and from there along the road we had followed
earlier, to _Kanchow_.