t embassy. In the first place there was the envoy
himself, Mr., now Sir, T. Douglas Forsyth, C.B., and now K.C.S.I. His
second in command was Lieut.-Colonel T. E. Gordon, C.S.I., who, after
the prime object of the mission had been accomplished, explored a very
considerable portion of the Pamir, the result of whose investigations is
to be found in his work "The Roof of the World." Then came Dr. Bellew,
C.S.I., Surgeon-Major, entrusted with the medical control of the
expedition. The three military men--Captains Chapman, Trotter, and
Biddulph--held various functions; the first as secretary, the latter two
in scientific capacities. In addition to these there were the learned
Dr. Stoliczka, who died from the effects of the rarefaction of the
atmosphere; an English corporal of a Highland regiment, and six native
officers and skilled assistants. There was also an escort of ten sowars,
one naick, and ten sepoys furnished by the Corps of Guides.

The appointments of the embassy were also most carefully selected, and
with special regard to the difficulties that lay before it in the
obstacles of nature, and the inconveniences attending complete
dependence on natives for the means of transporting the large quantity
of _impedimenta_. One hundred mules "of a fair stamp" were accordingly
purchased in India by Tara Sing, a merchant, and the treasurer to the
embassy. And these were equipped with saddles and trunks of a special
pattern, made in the government workshops at Cawnpoor. Altogether, then,
this English embassy to Kashgar was a very formidable undertaking, and
in its proportions assumed something of the appearance of a small army;
in camp there were "300 souls and 400 animals." The day had gone by when
English travellers entertained doubts of entering Kashgar in company at
the same time, lest they should arouse the apprehensions of the people.
Mr. Forsyth came vested with all the authority of his Sovereign and the
Viceroy, to negotiate a treaty of amity with the ruler of Kashgar, and
the people generally saw in that fact a guarantee of the preservation of
their liberties and independence.

So far as Shahidoola, the journey was in a well known region, and
outside the frontier of Yakoob Beg. At that place the first sign of that
ruler's power was encountered in the same way as Mr. Shaw, five years
before, had witnessed the advanced limit of the power of the Athalik
Ghazi in a southerly direction. A captain of the Kashgarian army,