Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/320

gold ring to my companion, as keepsakes. Altogether the Amban and his sons, especially the two younger, were very well disposed towards us, and were constantly giving us proofs of their good-will. Every day they sent us baskets of watermelons, apples and pears, from their garden, which were the more appreciated after our long privations in the desert; the old prince once sent us a dinner composed of numerous Chinese dishes of different kinds. The Gigen and Siya accompanied us on several shooting excursions, and we often passed the evening with them, sometimes chatting till late at night. Although it was difficult to keep up a conversation through the medium of an interpreter, we managed to pass our time pleasantly, and enjoyed it the more because we escaped for a time, at all events, the restraint imposed on us at our own house. The young princes appeared quite at their ease in our society, laughed and joked, and sometimes even played games or performed gymnastic exercises. In the course of conversation Siya asked many questions about Europe, and the life there; its people, machinery, railroads, telegraphs, &c. &c. The accounts we gave seemed fabulous to them, and excited their desire to see with their own eyes all the wonders we described; they entreated to be allowed to return with us to Russia. Sometimes they showed us different European articles bought at Peking and Kiakhta, such as revolvers, swordsticks, musical boxes, watches, and even bottles of eau-de-Cologne.