URUMTSI TO KUCHA 165 



attempts at snow, and at last culminated in a gale 

 and snowstorm. This finally disgusted us, and we 

 decided to leave, much to the delight of some 

 unhappy Chinese soldiers who had been ordered to 

 follow our fortunes and guard our camp ; we had 

 vainly tried to send them back, but they were afraid 

 to go until they could take back news that we had 

 left their amban's district. 



Our last shooting-camp was on the edge of the 

 already mentioned barren plain, and close to the 

 little road to Karashar ; but as this little road 

 crosses a high spur of the hills it was still blocked 

 by snow, and impassable for a caravan, according 

 to the account of two Kalmaks who had come over 

 it with unloaded ponies, so we had to go round by 

 Taks^in. 



To Taksan was about sixty miles, and it took us 

 four days to do it, as there are only certain places 

 where there is grass and water a gradual descent 

 the whole way, and it soon began to get unpleasantly 

 hot, while after the first march, where there were a 

 few scrubby plants, the country got more and more 

 barren, until at last there was no vegetation of any 

 sort or kind except on the edge of a stream, which 

 we followed part of the way ; all the rest was 

 nothing but a dreary expanse of gravel plains, 

 broken here and there by low, rocky hills. But if 

 the way seemed long the wind was certainly not 

 cold ; it might have come straight out of Tophet, 



