EXPLORATIONS IX MONGOLIA AND TIBET. 



669 



the illustrations will enable the reader to form a better idea of tlieir 

 camps aud general appearaiiee than could a long description. 



Crossing a high and very difficult pass in the southwest corner of the 

 Panakasum's country, we entered the basin of the Tsahan ossu, an 

 important river of the Ts'aidam, the existence of which Avas not here- 

 tofore suspected ; and on the 4th of April I reached the Mongol village 

 of Shang (or Shang-chia), on the upper Bayan gol (or Yogore gol), the 

 main river of the Ts'aidam, which has its source in two lakes called 

 Tosu-nor and Alang nor. 



FUi. 0.— Foot ol' Wiiliou Jiuukar I'a.-^s Icadin-; iiitotliu basiu ol Hk; I'saliaii ussu. 



Sending the bulk of my baggage to the camj) of a former acquaint- 

 ance, the chief or Dzassak of Baron Ts'aidam, I went with two 

 men and a Mongol guide to explore the Tosu-nor, reaching that 

 large vsheet of water (about i;i,oOO feet above sea level) on the 12th of 

 April. 



Dowe, the Mongol guide, the same who had led me in 1889, by 

 the sources of the Yellow Kiver to Jyakundo, told me one even- 

 ing while we gossiping over the camp fire, that he had heard at Sa- 

 chou of wild men {geresun Jam). Two had been captured by some 

 IMohammedan Sifan (or Huang fjin), but one soon died and the other 

 made his escape. These savages live between Sa-chou aud the 



