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BOAT-BUILDING. 23
are prevented from proceeding further you will be helplessly
stranded in an unknown region, where there are no inhabi-
tants, and no horses to be obtained." To this I repHed, "All
you say is quite true. All that might very well happen ;
but I always find that life is best when it has just a spice
of risk and danger attaching to it ; so that, notwithstand-
ing your good advice, Mr. Prudence, I intend to drift the
1,200 miles down to the point where the river finally suc-
cumbs in its desperate struggle against the sands of the
desert."
Lailik had never before presented such a bustling scene
as when our big caravan encamped on the left bank of the
river. Of course, all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
had to come and look at what the wonderful strangers were
doing, though of the real nature of our proceedings they
had only the vaguest notions. The very first morning
after our arrival I requested the chiefs of the place to
procure me a big ferry-boat of the kind which is employed
in the vicinity of the city of Yarkand for transporting
caravans and wares across the river—and to lose no time
about it if they did not want to be honoured with the
unwelcome attentions of my friend Dao-tai, the Chinese
governor of Kashgar.
Meanwhile, taking Sirkin to help me, I tried my little
canvas skiff. Light as a feather and silent as thistledown
it floated down the stream, and very strange was the sen-
sation it produced. In comparison with the greyish muddy’
water the little skiff appeared to be absolutely motionless,
while it was the bushes on the banks that raced past us at
a giddy speed. Silence, the stillness of the grave all
around ! On we went at a glorious pace—a splendid fore-
taste of the journey that awaited me ! At length, how-
ever, it occurred to me that we were getting a long way
from home, and would somehow have to get back to camp.
We pulled to shore, and Sirkin hurried into the forest,
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