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288 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
roaming freely about the stable-yard, full of play. It
accompanied us the greater part of the journey through
Tibet, and long out-lived both its two comrades and its
mother.
Meanwhile, stores were being bought to last ten months,
and were being divided and packed up, and lashed to the
pack-saddles, ready for starting. By the end of April
the courtyard of the serai was crowded with long rows
of heavy packages. In fact, the sight of them filled me
with dismay. Had all that to be dragged through the
wilds of Tibet ? But Turdu Bai assured me that the
loads were not too heavy, and besides their weight
would grow less every day. One row consisted of sacks
of rice, each sack crammed to the very top ; another row
of maize ; a third of roasted flour and ready-made bread.
Then there were big bales of skin coats for the men and
of white felt rugs for the camels. Besides, there were
numerous cases containing my instruments, clothes, books,
preserved foods, ammunition, implements, weapons,
articles intended as presents for the Tibetans, and a
thousand and one other things that are required on a
long journey. To feed our large force of camels and horses
we needed a great store of maize. This I arranged should
be carried up by 70 asses, which I hired from an old fellow,
named Dovlet, from Bokhara, who was assisted by half a
dozen men. After six or eight weeks the camels’ loads
would be so far reduced that we should be able to transfer
the maize from the asses to their backs, and then Dovlet
and his convoy were to return home.
In procuring and arranging all these stores my four
Cossacks rendered me most valuable assistance, each of
them having his own department to look after. But
for the two Buriats, Shagdur and Cherdon, I had a special
errand. I had got it into my head that I would not
leave the mysterious land of Tibet without making at
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