After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . neseuniform, with the traditional peacock feather inhis cap as an emblem of his governorship. By hisside came a small boy (who turned out to be hisinterpreter), carrying his pipe and tobacco ; thefollowers, in whom we recognised our old friendswho had been sent to meet us, marched sight promised quite an imposing the preliminary bows and tacit expressionsof friendship we found that, with regard to conversa-tion between his interpreter and ours, there was amissing link, viz. from Kalmuk to Chinese. Luckilythis gap was soon
After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . neseuniform, with the traditional peacock feather inhis cap as an emblem of his governorship. By hisside came a small boy (who turned out to be hisinterpreter), carrying his pipe and tobacco ; thefollowers, in whom we recognised our old friendswho had been sent to meet us, marched sight promised quite an imposing the preliminary bows and tacit expressionsof friendship we found that, with regard to conversa-tion between his interpreter and ours, there was amissing link, viz. from Kalmuk to Chinese. Luckilythis gap was soon filled by a Kalmuk who happenedto be at the karaoul at the time, and who wasacquainted with both languages, having had frequentdealings with the Kobdo merchants. His name EXCHANGE OF CIVILITIES i73 was Daniel, and we forthwith engaged his servicesfor the Mongolian journey at the rate of twentyroubles per month. In this manner our exchangeof civilities went through four stages before it wasfinally comprehended on both sides ; thus Littledale. jfeu*ai we were met by half a dozen chinamen. spoke to me in English, which I translated intoRussian for Nicholas, who turned it into Kalmukfor Daniel, who next translated it into MongolianChinese for the boy, who eventually brought it tothe comprehension of the Kha in pure Pekin sentence took about half an hour to go round,which considerably lengthened the interview. Our 174 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI main object was to obtain a reliable guide for thecountry we intended to explore, but the old man keptavoiding- the question, and on being summoned togive a definite answer said he was unable to complywith our wishes without having previously receivedorders from the authorities of Kobdo. On the otherhand he gave us a most lamentable description of hisprivate misfortunes, saying that he had been sentto this distant post through the intrigues of jealouscompatriots, and that he had had to leave his wifeand children at Pekin. Fina
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1900
