46 HARMONIES. 



tains in Chinese Tartary, where the river Cora breaks out 

 grandly into the plain, emerging from a rent in the lofty 

 mountain-chain, where the rocks rise several thousand 

 feet. " As I determined," says this intrepid traveller, " to 

 explore this mighty gorge, and sketch the scenery, our 

 horses were left at the mouth of the chasm, it being im- 

 possible to ride up the gorge ; and track there was none. 

 We had to climb over huge masses of rock ; some we 

 were obliged to creep under, they being much too high 

 to climb over : in other places, bushes and plants were 

 growing in tropical luxuriance. A scramble of five hours 

 brought me to a point I could not pass ; here the rocks 

 rose quite perpendicularly from the boiling flood, making 

 ascent to the summit impossible. Nor can this be ac- 

 complished either in spring or summer ; while in winter 

 the chasm is so deep in snow — there being no aoul 

 [hamlet] within several hundred versts — that it would be 

 madness to attempt it at that time ; thus these grand and 

 wild scenes are closed to man, and the tiger remains un- 

 disturbed in his lair, the bear in his den, and the maral 

 and wild deer range the wooded parts unmolested. A 

 very large bearded eagle was found amongst these crags, 

 which I shot. After making several sketches, I returned 

 to the horses, and ascended towards the great plateau be- 

 tween the mountains, where I arrived in the evening, tired 

 and hungry. The dark clouds which had obscured the 

 mountains cleared off, and gave me a most splendid view 

 of the Actou, which runs up towards the Ilia ; the snowy 

 peaks shilling like rubies in the setting sun, while all 



