Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/44

24 reports of our last year's explorations. We were as straitened as ever in our finances, the sum assigned for the use of the expedition in 1872 not having been received in full at Peking. But this difficulty was happily arranged, thanks to the renewed kindness of General Vlangali, who again lent me the necessary moneys, amounting to even more than the anticipated receipts of the current year. The General also procured from the Chinese Government a passport to enable us to travel in Kan-su, Koko-nor, and Tibet. The Government, however, officially notified that, owing to the disturbed state of these countries, travelling in them was attended by considerable danger, and they would in no case be responsible for our safety.

To provide for any emergency which might arise, I determined to increase the number of our guns, which, as we have already seen, are the best defence a European can have in travelling through those parts of Asia which are inhabited by a treacherous and cowardly set of thieves.

At Peking and at Tien-tsin I soon obtained several breech-loaders and revolvers. The best of my new guns was a rifle by Berdan, carrying a bullet at point-blank range upwards of 400 paces, a quality of the greatest importance in firing at unmeasured distances. This gun I reserved for my own use. My companion and one of the Cossacks each took a Snider, and the other Cossack a Martini-Henry with a seventeen-barrelled revolving chamber; lastly, a fifth Spicer rifle was taken in reserve. We supplied