Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/319

 tried in vain to keep back the mob; no sooner had they driven out one set than ten minutes afterwards another collected; this continued all day during the whole of our stay at Din-yuan-ing, especially during the earlier part of the time. We could do nothing, for no sooner did we show ourselves than we attracted general attention. It was provoking to have to sit with folded hands in a dirty house just at a time when the migration of birds was at its height, and with the great wooded mountains of Ala-shan near us. But the traveller, more than anyone, must submit to circumstances, and we accordingly resigned ourselves.

Two days after our arrival at the town of Ala-shan we had an interview with the two younger sons of the prince, the Gigen and Siya, five days later with the eldest brother, and not till the eighth day with the Amban himself. We had to give presents to all of them, in accordance with the intimation we had received beforehand from the three officials who met us on our arrival. Having nothing with me specially adapted for the purpose, I gave to the prince a watch and aneroid unfit for use; to his eldest son a binocular glass, and to the Gigen and Siya sundry small articles, such as hunting accoutrements and gunpowder. In return for these, we received from the prince and his sons some valuable presents: a pair of horses, a bag of rhubarb, and a loaf of Russian sugar, imported into Ala-shan by way of Kiakhta. Besides which our friends the Gigen and Siya gave me a silver bracelet, and a