Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/97

78 how to repair the guns, and even manufacture new ones; there were also carpenters and joiners among them. They supplied themselves with provisions by catching fish, and killing wild boar by the way; but they strictly adhered to their customs of eating no other food than that cooked in their own utensils, and avoiding prohibited meats. They were described to be courageous and persevering folk. Some of them settled on the Lower Tarim, near the fort of the present day; here they built themselves reed huts, in which they passed the winter. Others settled at Chargalyk, where they built a wooden house, perhaps intended to serve as a church, and this edifice has been quite recently swept away by the floods on the Cherchen river. In the meanwhile a great many of the horses of the Russians had perished—some during the winter, and others on the journey, owing to the difficulties of the road, improper food, and swarms of mosquitoes. The immigrants were not pleased with their newly adopted country, and on the return of spring they decided on retracing their steps or seeking a better fortune elsewhere. The Chinese governor of Turfan, to whom Lob-nor was then subject, gave orders to supply them with the requisite horses and provisions; and one