264 Mr St John on the Mongols. 



and valleys, and intersected by a few large rivers and nume- 

 rous small streams. It is crowned by the great desert of Kobi, 

 or Shamo, as the Chinese call it, one of the wildest and bleak- 

 est regions of the globe, of still unknown extent and unde- 

 fined limits, though parts have been more than once explored 

 and described. In some places its surface is undulating, like 

 that of the rolling prairies of America ; in others it is rough, 

 broken up by ravines, and gullies, whilst frequent plains are 

 met with, covered with pasture. The hills are generally clothed 

 in a mantle of dark hudurgima, which resembles young oak- 

 shoots, and are often inhabited by such prodigious numbers 

 of mice, that the horses' feet sunk at every step into their 

 burrows. 



Among the ever-recurring features of a Mongolian land- 

 scape, are the salt-lakes, with their white incrustation, and 

 elegant fringe of slender reeds. Many of these are met with 

 in the vast sea of sand and flints which stretches north of the 

 Tsakhars. 



But we must not consider Mongolia under the most un- 

 favourable aspect only. In many quarters it is highly fertile, 

 especially near the Great Wall, where the climate has been 

 compared to that of Germany. The banks of the Boro, the 

 Shara, the Iro, and other large rivers in the northern section 

 of the country, abound in pasture, and there occurs here and 

 there land admirably adapted for tillage. 



In one part of the desert of Kobi, there is an eminence, 

 which, seen from a distance, appears like a forest. As you 

 approach, however, an extraordinary lusus naturce is observed. 

 Here is beheld an immense altar ; there a sarcophagus. Now 

 is seen a lofty tower ; then the ruins of a house with a stone- 

 floor. The rock, a decomposed granite, lies in large masses, 

 from three to nine inches thick ; in some parts the Bobinia 

 pygmoea grows thick on the surface ; no other plants are seen, 

 and the soil around is sandy. The Mongols declare that 

 much loadstone is found in this place ; and if any one ap- 

 proaches with a gun, it is strongly attracted. In Mount Dar- 

 kan is said to be preserved the anvil of Genghis Khan, com- 

 posed of the peculiar metal called huryn^ possessing the pro- 

 perties of iron and copper, being at once hard and flexible. 



