sert of Gobi. To remain at Tchagan-Kouren, and patiently await for a
month the complete retirement of the waters and the restoration of
solidity in the roads, was, in one point of view, the most prudent
course, but there was a grave inconvenience about it. We and our five
animals could not live for a month in an inn without occasioning a most
alarming atrophy in our already meagre purse. The only course remaining
was to place ourselves exclusively under the protection of Providence,
and to go on, regardless of mud or marsh. This resolution was adopted,
and we returned home to make the necessary preparations.

Tchagan-Kouren is a large, fine town of recent construction. It is not
marked on the map of China compiled by M. Andriveau-Goujon, doubtless
because it did not exist at the time when the Fathers Jesuits residing at
Peking were directed by the Emperor Khang-Hi to draw maps of the empire.
Nowhere in China, Mantchouria, or in Thibet, have we seen a town like
White Enclosure. The streets are wide, clean, and clear; the houses
regular in their arrangement, and of very fair architecture. There are
several squares, decorated with trees, a feature which struck us all the
more that we had not observed it anywhere else in this part of the world.
There are plenty of shops, commodiously arranged, and well supplied with
Chinese, and even with European goods. The trade of Tchagan-Kouren,
however, is greatly checked by the proximity of the Blue Town, to which,
as a place of commerce, the Mongols have been much longer accustomed.

Our worthy Tartar host, in his hospitality, sought to divert us from our
project, but unsuccessfully; and he even got rallied by Samdadchiemba for
his kindness. "It's quite clear," said our guide, "that you've become a
mere Kitat (Chinese), and think that a man must not set out upon a
journey unless the earth is perfectly dry and the sky perfectly
cloudless. I have no doubt you go out to lead your sheep with an
umbrella in one hand and a fan in the other." It was ultimately arranged
that we should take our departure at daybreak next morning.

Meantime we went out into the town to make the necessary supply of
provisions. To guard against the possibility of being inundation-bound
for several days, we bought a quantity of small loaves fried in mutton
fat, and for our animals we procured a quantity of the most portable
forage we could find.

Next morning we departed full of confidence in the go