Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/169

 accompanied by every good wish for our happiness and success from our countrymen resident in that city, amongst whom we had passed our time so agreeably. Those pleasant days were now gone by, and in the bustle and anxiety of present arrangements we had little time even to think of the future, with all its hopes and fears.

In addition to the Cossack who had accompanied us from Kiakhta, another, attached to our embassy at Peking, was ordered to join our party. Both these men were only to remain with us temporarily, and were to be replaced by two others who had not yet arrived. Under these circumstances we could not at once enter the heart of Mongolia, and therefore determined to explore such parts of it as lie north of Peking in the direction of the town of Dolon-nor. Here I wished, in the first place, to acquaint myself with the nature of the hilly region which, just as at Kalgan, forms the border-land of the plateau, and secondly, to observe the spring flight of birds of passage. For the latter purpose, lake Dalai-nor was a convenient station, situated on the table-land itself, 100 miles north of Dolon-nor. From its shores we purposed again descending to Kalgan, changing our Cossacks for the newcomers whose arrival we expected about that time, and then turning westwards in the direction of the northern bend of the Hoang-ho. In order to burden ourselves as little as possible, we despatched part of our effects direct to Kalgan, only taking with us what was absolutely necessary for two months. Having been