AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY 185 



exploring trip, fortune sending me to the right, whilst 

 my companion took the opposite direction. The 

 scenery in front of us was a wild and desolate one ; 

 long arid tablelands succeeded each other in the 

 distance ; occasional rocky boulders springing out of 

 them broke the monotony of the view, whilst deep 

 corries with precipitous banks of rolling stones 

 divided the plateaux from one another. Small 

 streams trickled at the bottom of the ravines, with 

 patches of grass on -either side, and wide stretches 

 of snow melted fast under the rays of the rising 

 sun, the whole conveying the impression of a drawing 

 in black and white. Not a creature was in sight 

 save a few Plovers, which fluttered round us, en- 

 deavouring to draw our attention from their nests, 

 and a herd of Yaks, which had been abandoned on 

 the high grounds for summer grazing by some stray 

 Kirghiz tribe. As we advanced on horseback they 

 suddenly took fright, and started off in a frantic 

 gallop with the noise of a charge of cavalry. Neither 

 Taba nor my other Kalmuk knew anything of the 

 country, and the word " Bclbess" (" I do not know") 

 was the constant answer to my questions. We rode 

 on in this manner for some time, crossing several 

 lateral corries, spying on our way, and finally dis- 

 mounted at the edge of a steep descent in order to 



