the south from the monastery
we emerged into the great bowl of the mountains in whose center lay the
large lake of Koko Nor. If Finland deserves the ordinary title of the
"Land of Ten Thousand Lakes," the dominion of Koko Nor may certainly
with justice be called the "Country of a Million Lakes." We skirted
this lake on the west between it and Doulan Kitt, zigzagging between the
numerous swamps, lakes and small rivers, deep and miry. The water was
not here covered with ice and only on the tops of the mountains did we
feel the cold winds sharply. We rarely met the natives of the country
and only with greatest difficulty did our Kalmuck learn the course of
the road from the occasional shepherds we passed. From the eastern shore
of the Lake of Tassoun we worked round to a monastery on the further
side, where we stopped for a short rest. Besides ourselves there was
also another group of guests in the holy place. These were Tibetans.
Their behavior was very impertinent and they refused to speak with us.
They were all armed, chiefly with the Russian military rifles and were
draped with crossed bandoliers of cartridges with two or three pistols
stowed beneath belts with more cartridges sticking out. They examined
us very sharply and we readily realized that they were estimating our
martial strength. After they had left on that same day I ordered our
Kalmuck to inquire from the High Priest of the temple exactly who they
were. For a long time the monk gave evasive answers but when I showed
him the ring of Hutuktu Narabanchi and presented him with a large yellow
hatyk, he became more communicative.

"Those are bad people," he explained. "Have a care of them."

However, he was not willing to give their names, explaining his refusal
by citing the Law of Buddhist lands against pronouncing the name of
one's father, teacher or chief. Afterwards I found out that in North
Tibet there exists the same custom as in North China. Here and there
bands of hunghutze wander about. They appear at the headquarters of the
leading trading firms and at the monasteries, claim tribute and after
their collections become the protectors of the district. Probably this
Tibetan monastery had in this band just such protectors.

When we continued our trip, we frequently noticed single horsemen far
away or on the horizon, apparently studying our movements with care. All
our attempts to approach them and enter into conversation with them were
entirely unsucces