of our escort, Rakhmet Beg, was deputed to conduct them back to Ushak-tala,[1] situated on the road from Kara-shahr to Turfan. On reaching the last-named place the emigrants departed for Urumtsi, and nothing has been since heard of them, for the outbreak of the Dungan insurrection interrupted communications with the trans-Tian-Shan districts. This is all we could ascertain about the starovertsi sometime resident at Lob-nor.
After a week's rest at Chargalyk, where I left the greater part of my baggage in charge of three Cossacks, I started with the three other Cossacks and my assistant, F. L. Eklon, the day after Christmas day, for the Altyn-tagh[2] mountains to hunt the wild camel, which according to the unanimous testimony of the Lob-nortsi inhabits these mountains and the deserts to the east of them. Zaman Beg and his companions also remained behind at Chargalyk.
Our caravan now consisted of only eleven
- ↑ [According to Route XVI. in the Geogr. Appendix to Capt. Trotter's Report of the survey operations in E. Turkestan, 1873-74, Ushak-tal is the third stage from Kara-shahr, on the road to Turfan, the route from Turfan to Urumtsi is also given (ibid. Route XVII.)—M.]
- ↑ [Col. Yule informs me that these mountains are described in dry Chinese fashion, in the Chinese hydrography of the Kashgar basin, translated by Stan. Julien in the N. Annales de Voyages for 1846 (vol. iii.). They seem, however, to describe the mountains as approaching within some twenty miles of the Tarim-gol, which we gather from this notice of Prejevalsky is not the case.—M.]
