ely transformed into dry bread. My friend
presented him with a Romanoff five-hundred-rouble note with a picture
of Peter the Great upon it, while I gave to him a small nugget of gold
which I had picked up in the bed of a stream. The Prince ordered one of
the Soyots to guide us to the Kosogol. The whole family of the Prince
conducted us to the monastery ten kilometres from the "capital." We did
not visit the monastery but we stopped at the "Dugun," a Chinese trading
establishment. The Chinese merchants looked at us in a very hostile
manner though they simultaneously offered us all sorts of goods,
thinking especially to catch us with their round bottles (lanhon) of
maygolo or sweet brandy made from aniseed. As we had neither lump silver
nor Chinese dollars, we could only look with longing at these attractive
bottles, till the Prince came to the rescue and ordered the Chinese to
put five of them in our saddle bags.

CHAPTER XIII

MYSTERIES, MIRACLES AND A NEW FIGHT

In the evening of the same day we arrived at the Sacred Lake of Teri
Noor, a sheet of water eight kilometres across, muddy and yellow, with
low unattractive shores studded with large holes. In the middle of the
lake lay what was left of a disappearing island. On this were a few
trees and some old ruins. Our guide explained to us that two centuries
ago the lake did not exist and that a very strong Chinese fortress
stood here on the plain. A Chinese chief in command of the fortress gave
offence to an old Lama who cursed the place and prophesied that it would
all be destroyed. The very next day the water began rushing up from the
ground, destroyed the fortress and engulfed all the Chinese soldiers.
Even to this day when storms rage over the lake the waters cast up on
the shores the bones of men and horses who perished in it. This Teri
Noor increases its size every year, approaching nearer and nearer to the
mountains. Skirting the eastern shore of the lake, we began to climb a
snow-capped ridge. The road was easy at first but the guide warned us
that the most difficult bit was there ahead. We reached this point two
days later and found there a steep mountain side thickly set with forest
and covered with snow. Beyond it lay the lines of eternal snow--ridges
studded with dark rocks set in great banks of the white mantle that
gleamed bright under the clear sunshine. These were the eastern and
highest branches of the Tannu Ola system. We spent the night beneath