Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/48

28 had set in; and most of the corn had already been harvested. The valley of the Kran is singularly fertile, and from the Phara-sume monastery down to the town of Balbagai, a distance of about ten miles, the fields are in a high state of cultivation under the care of the native population, who are chiefly Eleuths and Kirghiz. It is the granary of the Eastern Ektag Altai, and the Kirghiz from as far away as Kobdo come hither to purchase their corn. Poppies are also sown to a great extent, and opium is exported to Kobdo and Bulun-tokhoi. While staying on the banks of the Kran, M. Potanin resolved to pay a visit to the lamasery of Phara-sumé, where a lama known as the Tsagan-gygen resided, and where he expected to obtain both a guide and general information concerning the country and the people. But the Chinese authorities were inimical to the advent of strangers here, as elsewhere, and they stirred up the people to acts of a semi-hostile nature. So that when M. Potanin appeared on the road leading to Phara-sumé he was on the first occasion met by a body of men who said it was too late that day to visit the Tsagan-gygen; and when M. Potanin returned the next day he was met by shouts of arjur, "be off!" from the townspeople. An excuse was then discovered for placing him under arrest, and during the one night of enforced residence in Phara-sumé he had to accept the hospitality of a lama.

Now, it is given on the authority of numerous travellers in all parts of China, and on the particular authority of one gentleman who has travelled across