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ON THE WAY TO THE ARKA-TAGH. 305
mountains I could just make out six thin dark lines and
several dots. They were evidently om- people, but the
distance was much too great for them to be able to see us.
We watched their progress with great interest, expecting
soon to see them wheel and steer straight for our camp.
But no, nothing of the kind. Instead of that they halted,
and very soon the lines disappeared and became converted
into dots. I understood then that they were encamping,
having found tolerable grazing ; therefore I sent Mollah
Shah to them with instructions to come on and join us. It
was a long time, however, before the little dots began to
gather together ; but eventually we were able to make out
that the animals were being loaded up again, and soon
after that we saw them start and come marching straight
towards our camp.
After a while two horsemen detached themselves from the
head of the column and galloped forward to where I stood.
They were Chernoff and Cherdon, and they reported that
all was well. Next came the ass-caravan, with old Dovlet
at its head, and behind his grey column a confused and
terrified kulan made off amid a cloud of dust. The next in
the string was Turdu Bai, at the head of his magnificent
camels, all wearing white chapans, or " felt rugs," which the
men had made for them in their leisure hours on the way
up. The three young camels looked very comical in their
white rugs as they played about their mothers, while the
youngest, which was scarcely a month old, frolicked about
without showing the slightest sign of fatigue. The stag
also was thriving.
The procession was closed by the horses with their drivers.
Each column passed in review order before the spot where
I stood, surrounded by the Cossacks, and answering the
respectful greetings of the men as they marched past. The
loads were arranged four-square so as to make a fold for the
sheep, which faithfully followed the ram Vanka, an excep-
20
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