624 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



object of religious veneration among the Mongols. Gramineae and Com- 

 positae predominate in the meagre flora of the Gobi. A characteristic plant 

 is a species of Artemisia, which the winter-storm frequently uproots, tosses 

 into a heap together with other ill-fated companions, and drives before it 

 over the expanse. . . . 



'For weeks together one has always before one's eyes the same forms, 

 sometimes interminable tracts tawny with the dried-up grass, sometimes of 

 blackish fissured rock, sometimes of low hills on the summits of which the 

 outline of the swift-footed Antilope gutturosa stands out.' 



The desert of Khami in the western part of the Gobi is described as follows 

 by the same traveller : — 



'The desert as a perfect waste first disclosed itself to us at a distance of 

 four days' journey from Khami (about 43° N., 90 E.) ; there entire absence 





fJFA ' 



UK 





Fig. 35S. Haloxylon Ammodendron and Calligonum in the desert of Kara-kum. After Fcdshenko. 



of vegetation commenced. Silicious soil, sand, stones, with scattered blocks 

 of loess, here and there the bones of a dead camel or horse, were all that met 

 the eye. Not a tree, not a shrub, neither bird nor beast, not even a lizard 

 gave life to this dismal waste. The ground was burning hot, even night 

 brought no relief. Terrible storms whirled clouds of sand along. . . .' 



The flora and character of the vegetation bear a very similar character in 

 the Trans-Caspian and Gobi deserts. The cold temperate character of the 

 flora is revealed most distinctly in moist places, in the oases (Fig. 358), on 

 the banks of streams, in the gravelly beds of the dried rivers. In these 

 places there grow only deciduous trees and shrubs of a northern type, espe- 

 cially Populus euphratica (P. diversifolia), P. alba, P. nigra, Ulmus cam- 

 pestris, Salix alba, species of Fraxinus ; and in the oases of Sachu (or 

 Saitu, about 40 N., 94 E.), where Rosa canina, Rubus Idaeus, Crataegus 



