Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/297

Rh back again across the river in sight of my companion.

The following morning an official made his appearance accompanied by ten soldiers in full-dress red blouses, and announced that he had been sent to examine our things. The inspection began, but

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(From a Photograph lent by Baron Osten Sacken.)

was so carelessly conducted that the surveying work, which I had concealed at the bottom of one of my boxes, safely escaped the ordeal. One circumstance certainly favoured us, and that was the preparation of our soup, out of which the soldiers kept continually stealing bits of meat to eat, an occupation