rdinary people the singular custom
prevails that a wife can have two or several husbands. Among Mohammedans
the case is just the reverse: men can have several wives.

ATTEMPT TO REACH LHASA

It was from Lop-nor in the year 1901 that I penetrated into this lofty
mountain land for the third time. The summer had just set in with its
suffocating dust storms, and we longed to get up into the fresh, pure
air. The caravan was large, for I had sixteen Mohammedan servants from
Eastern Turkestan, two Russian and two Buriat Cossacks, and a Mongolian
Lama from Urga. Provisions for seven months, tents, furs, beds, weapons,
and boxes were carried by 39 camels, 45 horses and mules, and 60 asses;
and we also had 50 sheep for food, several dogs, and a tame stag.

When all was ready we set out towards the lofty mountains and crossed
one range after another. When we reached the great heights the caravan
lost strength day by day. The atmosphere is so rare that a man cannot
breathe without an effort, and the slightest movement produces
palpitation of the heart. The grazing becomes more scanty the higher you
go, and many of the caravan animals succumbed. At last we seldom
travelled more than twelve miles in a day.

After forty-four days' march due southwards we came to a part of the
country where footprints of men were seen in several places, and Lhasa
was only 300 miles away. Up to this time all Europeans who had tried to
reach the holy city had been forced by Tibetan horsemen to turn back.
The Tibetans are at bottom a good-tempered, decent people, but they will
not allow any European to enter their country. They have heard that
India and Central Asia have been conquered by white men, and fear that
the same fate may befall Tibet. Two hundred years ago, indeed, Catholic
missionaries lived in Lhasa, and the town was visited in 1845 by the
famous priests Huc and Gabet from France. Since then two Europeans who
had made the attempt to reach the place had been murdered, and others
had to turn back without success.

Now it was my turn to try my luck. My plan was to travel in disguise
with only two followers. One was the Mongolian Lama, the other the
Buriat Cossack, Shagdur. The Buriats are of Mongol race, speak
Mongolian, and are Lamaists. They have narrow, rather oblique eyes,
prominent cheek-bones, and thick lips. The dress of both peoples is the
same--a skin coat with long sleeves and a waistbelt, a cap, and a pair
of boots with turned-u