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290 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
of dragging all through Tibet the skeletons and heads of
the animals and the geological specimens I had collected,
or the heavy carved woodwork we had brought from
Lcu-lan ? All these made up nine camels’ loads, and would
have to be unloaded and loaded up again every day for the
space of nine months. Better send them, therefore, I
thought, to Kashgar by the great caravan road through
Aksu. But of all the Mussulmans there was only one
to whom I felt I could entrust such a very important mis-
sion, namely, Islam Bai. It was indeed hard to part from
him, but the programme I sketched for him reconciled
us both to the separation. He was to carry my collections
to Kashgar, and having handed them over to Mr.
Petrovsky, Russian Consul-General, he was to take five
months’ leave of absence, and go and visit his family at
Osh. After that he was to return to Kashgar, lift my
post-bag and a sum of money, and carry them to Ladak,
where he was to await my arrival. Old Faisullah, who
had felt severely the hardships he had recently under-
gone, would accompany him to Kashgar.
Another important task that I entrusted to Islam Bai
was to carry to Kashgar my own post-bag, and a heavy
one it was. The most important of the letters it contained
was one addressed to Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, in
which I begged him to allow me to lift a loan of a few
thousand rupees at Leh, in Ladak, and at the same time
I hinted at the possibility of a short visit to India, and
if I did visit that country, I requested permission to take
with me one of my Cossacks. The kind answer which I
received to this letter on my arrival at Leh belongs to a
later chapter of this book.
On the 5th May Islam Bai set out on his journey to
the north and west, with eight camels and some horses,
and servants to look after them.
Three days later our caravan was all ready to start,
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