File:Ruins of desert Cathay - personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China (1912) (14783118425).jpg

Identifier: ruinsofdesertcat01stei (find matches)
Title: Ruins of desert Cathay : personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Stein, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943 Archaeological Survey of India
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Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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-engagement (Fig. 38). Besideshis good points I knew well the bad ones : his quarrelsometemper, his explosive pugnacity, his terribly sharp tongue,which made him enemies among all. But he was ever fullof energy, always knew his own mind and what was goodfor his beloved camels ; and, best recommendation of all,I felt instinctively that it was the true spirit of adventure,so rare among Turki people, which made him look out fora fresh chance of desert travel with me. So quicksilveryHassan Akhun was duly appointed to the chief command ofmy * ships of the desert,* even before they were bought.In spite of many a petty tribulation thereafter, whichjustified my misgivings about the risks implied to thepeace of our travelling household by Hassan Akhunspresence, I never regretted the choice. It was, perhaps, even more difficult to secure at Kashgara cook. It was true, I had managed to bring across theHindukush and Pamirs worthy Nur Khan, that queerrepresentative of the Khansama type of Northern
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38. HASSAN AKHUN, MY HEAD CAMEL-MAN. RETURN OF OLD RETAINERS 113 Indian cantonments, whom in Peshawar I had been obligedto fall back upon as a last resource. But his physiquewas manifestly not equal to the fatigues of such travel,and besides, the occasions had been painfully frequentwhen he failed to produce digestible food, even of thesimplest sort. He persistently ascribed his failure to wantof ways and means for the due execution of those culinaryrites which orthodox Khansama practice in Indian stationsordains. It was wholly beyond my power to produce suchregulation conditions as he claimed ; and as the Macartneyswere then without a proper cook, and their fully equippedkitchen just the place which he declared that he neededfor giving proper scope to his talents, I was glad to leaveNur Khan behind at Kashgar. The only available substitute was Ramzan, a youngKashmiri, clever but otherwise far from prepossessing,who a few years before had drifted up to Turkestan with aparty of Sahibs,

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