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i62 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
letters and packets from home. After ordering Shagdur
to give the man a good supper, I set to work to devour
the good news he brought me, and it was three o’clock in
the morning before I extinguished my light.
On the whole, however, our days passed quietly and
uneventfully. When we were prevented from advancing
by the storms the Cossacks used to amuse themselves
with fishing. When the weather was fine we continued
far on into the night, our course being illuminated by
Chinese lanterns and oil lamps, which the canoes carried
ahead of the ferry-boat. At such times the Cossacks
used to sit in front of my work-table and chat with Kirgui
Pavan and Pavan Aksakal, and at the same time the
musical-box was kept going at full swing. How delightful
the cool nights were after the oppressive heat of the day !
Our further course down the Tarim was through veritable
clouds of gadflies, gnats and mosquitoes. But the river
was now rapidly nearing its termination in the Kara-
koshun, the lake, or rather marsh, in which it finally suc-
cumbs after struggling for 1,200 miles against the desert.
At the fishing-station of Chighelik we said good-bye to our
brave old ferry-boat, giving her as a present to the inhabi-
tants of the place, who were beyond measure delighted
with such a magnificent present. Then on a sort of make-
shift craft we made our way to Abdal, where the river
comes to an end. During the last few days of the journey
I heard news I did not like. A fresh courier arrived, with
the information that Sirkin and Chernoff were ordered
to return to Kashgar in consequence of the Boxer troubles
in China. There was nothing for it, but I had to send a
special messenger to our head-quarters in Northern Tibet,
bidding Chernoff hurry back to Abdal.
At Abdal my arrival was awaited by a caravan of camels
and horses, led by Turdu Bai. There I was detained several
days, first by one thing, then by another. In the first
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