but in a direction due north of our halting place; I could also distinguish the summit of another, which might perhaps be that of Shangin-dalai. Towards which should we direct our steps? Having taken careful bearings of the latter, and having compared its position on the map with that noted down last year, we decided to march in that direction.
In doubt and anxiety we loaded our camels and started, the hill now and then visible above the low ridges, and now and again hidden from sight. In vain we strained our eyes through the glass to see the cairn of stones ('obo') piled upon its summit; the distance was still too great to distinguish anything so small. At length, after having gone nearly seven miles from the halting place, we descried what we sought; with strength renewed by hope we pressed onwards; and in a few more hours we stood by the side of the well, to which our animals, tortured with thirst, rushed eagerly forward.
On one of the marches through Southern Ala-shan we met a caravan of Mongol pilgrims on their way from Urga to Lhassa. Ever since the outbreak of the insurrection, i.e. for eleven years, these votaries of the Dalai-Lama had not ventured to visit his capital; now however, since the occupation of central Kan-su by Chinese troops, a large caravan[1] had been equipped at Urga to proceed in search of the Kutukhtu, who had died a few years before at Bogdo-kuren, and was reported to have been re-born in Tibet. The pilgrims were marching in echelons,
- ↑ Numbering, it was reported, a thousand tents.
