Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/120

98 climate and more abundant food in the lower valleys.

The scientific harvest was all gathered, and we determined to retrace our steps to Chobsen, and attempt to proceed thence to Lake Koko-nor. On our way back we caught our camels, which had been allowed to pasture near the temple of Chertinton, and were in miserable condition, owing to the unaccustomed food upon which they had fed all summer. They all had bad coughs, brought on by the damp climate, and their bodies were covered with sores; in fact they were hardly fit for even a short journey.

On September 1, we arrived at Chobsen, where we found that during our absence the Dungans had increased their marauding to an alarming extent. The badly-armed militia, numbering 2,000 men, could do nothing against the mounted robbers, who rode up to the very walls of the temple and taunted its defenders: 'Where are your Russian friends now with their good guns?' they would exclaim; 'we have come to fight them.' The militia sometimes returned a volley, but the bullets from their matchlocks fell short of the enemy. Our friends, the leaders of the caravan, were the chief organisers of the defence. They had sent several messengers into the hills imploring us to return, and were anxiously awaiting our arrival. Now, we thought, at all events we shall have a brush with the brigands; as for their leader, who was described by the gallant defenders of Chobsen to be a terrible warrior, who rode a piebald horse and bore a charmed life, we