Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/51

32 companions, Lieut. Povalo-Schweikofsky, and a volunteer of the name of Eklon. Adequately supplied this time with funds, I was able to buy in St. Petersburg and Moscow all the requisite stores for so long a journey, and these, together with guns and ammunition (the latter supplied by Government), weighed about two tons. This weight I had to transport from Perm to Kulja on five postal troikas which took me more than a month, delayed by the abominable state of the roads in crossing the Ural.

At Semipalatinsk we were joined by the companions of my last expedition to Mongolia—the Trans-Baikalian Cossacks, Chebayeff and Irinchinoff, who declared their readiness to share with me once again the hardships and privations of a new journey. One other Cossack was also sent from Trans-Baikalia to act as interpreter of the Mongol language, and I took three others at Vemoye from the Semiretchinsk force. Lastly, at Kulja itself I hired a Kirghiz Christian convert, who spoke the Sart language. In this way the personnel of my expedition was formed, but unfortunately I was not nearly so successful in the choice of my companions as I had been on the last occasion.

Nearly three weeks were occupied at Kulja in the final formation and equipment of our caravan, consisting of twenty-four camels and four riding-horses. The latter were bestridden by myself, my