INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xv 



The specific charges which Prejevalsky brings against 

 Hue's narrative are the following : — 



1. His description of the ford of the Pouhain-gol, a 

 river flowing into the Koko-nor Lake from the westward, 

 as an extremely difficult passage of a stream broken up 

 into twelve branches ; whereas it forms but a single stream 

 where the Lhassa road crosses it, and that only 105 feet 

 wide, with a depth of one or two feet. (See this work, 

 vol. ii. p. 158, and Hue, ii. p. 200.) 



2. His entire omission to mention the high chain south 

 of the Koko-nor. 



3. His depicting the Tgaidam country as an arid steppe, 

 whereas it is a salt-marsh, covered with high reeds. 



4. His omitting to mention the Tsaidam river, though 

 it is twenty-two times as wide as the Pouhain-gol. 



5. What he says regarding the gas on the Burkhan 

 Bota mountain ' is very doubtful,' says Col. Prejevalsky. 



6. His representing the Shuga chain as very steep, 

 whereas its gradients would, even as they are, bear a rail- 

 way. 



7. The chain of the Baian-kara-ula, 'about which Hue 

 relates marvellous stories,' is only a succession of low ele- 

 vations, never exceeding 1,000 feet above the plains that 

 lie to the north, and only a little steeper towards the 

 Murui-ussu. ' There is here no pass ' (i.e. I presume no 

 col to be crossed), * and the road follows a stream down to 

 the Murui-ussu.' 



8. Hue speaks only oi crossing the Murui-ussu (or Upper 

 Yangtse), after passing the Baian Kara ; but the Lhassa 

 road lies along its banks the whole way up to its source in 

 the Tang-la mountains, a distance of some 200 miles. 



Now, Nos. 4 and б are, as Mr. Ney Elias has already 

 pointed out, mistakes of Col. Prejevalsky 's own. Hue 

 docs mention the Tsaidam river; he does not represent 



du corps etait pris dans la glace, qui dtait si transparente, qu'on 

 pouvait distinguer facilement la position de ces imprudentes betes ; 

 on eut dit qu'elles etaient encore к nager. Les aigles, et les corbeaux 

 leur avaient arrache les yeux' (ii. 219). 



