Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/68

Rh of Korla came to inquire the object of our journey. I explained to them that we were on our way to Lob-nor, and that Yakub Beg was well aware of this. On receiving my reply the envoys returned to Korla, but a small picket was stationed on the opposite bank of the Kaidu, to watch our movements. The day afterwards the same envoys reappeared, reporting that the governor had despatched a courier to Yakub Beg, and that until his answer were received, no permission could be given us to proceed. This decision did not disturb us in the least, as the wooded country on the Kaidu abounded in wintering birds and pheasants. The latter probably belong to a new species, very closely allied to Phasianus Shavii, recently discovered in the neighbourhood of Kashgar by the British mission to Eastern Turkestan, and occurring along the whole length of the Tarim, and on Lake Lob.

The Kaidu river is from 200 to 270 feet wide at Kara-moto, with a very rapid stream and a depth of three to four feet at the fords, which, during summer, are entirely impassable. Fish are plentiful in the river, but I cannot say of what kinds, for neither in going nor coming had we the

E