MONGOLIA 69 



pastures, when the lowland grazing grounds are dried 

 up. Hence they are tenanted in summer, and the 

 temporary villages at the foot of the grazing slopes 

 are connected by an outer route. Wild sheep and ibexes, 

 hares, wolves, and bears are found here. 



A similar disposition is seen in the southern part of 

 Sungaria, beyond the barrier of the Tian Shan. The desert 

 nucleus is not so extensive as in the Takhla-Makan. 

 Quasi-desert wormwood-brush-wastes cover a large 

 portion of northern Sungaria, and gradually merge into 

 the steppe which clothes the foothills and lower valleys 

 of the Altai range : thence the steppe skirts the southern 

 margin of the Siberian highlands, penetrating deep into 

 the valleys and up to the belt of luxuriant mountain 

 pastures or, eventually, rising to meet the forests. 



The secluded Kobdo basin is an outlier of the Mongo- 

 lian steppe far among the highlands. Its landscape is 

 much more prosperous than that of Sungaria, containing 

 only a few arid centres of limited extent, while its grassy 

 downs are interspersed with some luxuriant meadows. 

 Tree- growth remains confined to the river margins and 

 to the oases, or again is relegated far up the mountain 

 slopes. This is a rich cattle country, where ponies, 

 camels, and sheep find abundant maintenance during 

 the winter months. The character of the oases is now 

 decidedly northern. 



The foot-hills and marginal belt of northern Mongolia 

 display a landscape similar to that of Kobdo. On the 

 north-eastern and eastern margins, along the Khingans, 

 the summer rains spread to some distance from the 

 mountains, correspondingly widening the belt of steppes. 

 Between the latter and the desert area lying to the 

 west, the larger portion of the Gobi falls into the zone of 

 scattered grass and wormwood-brush, which in late 



