LIFELESS ASPECTS. THE URUTE COUNTRY. 143 



and on the 5th and 6th June there were heavy hail- 

 storms. But now and then the cold weather would 

 give place to intense heat, reminding us that we 

 were in 41° north latitude. Although the sky was 

 often cloudy very little rain fell ; a circumstance which, 

 combined with the cold, checked vegetation. Even 

 in the beginning of June the grass was barely above 

 the ground, and hardly concealed the dirty yellowish 

 mud and clay soil of the plain. The few bushes 

 growing on the mountains were by this time mostly 

 in flower, but they were so low and of such stunted 

 growth, so choked with thorns and hidden by rocks, 

 that they contributed very little towards enlivening 

 the general aspect of the landscape. Neither were 

 the fields cultivated by the Chinese as yet green, for 

 in consequence of the late frosts the corn is not sown 

 till the early part of June. In fact the face of Nature 

 was lifeless and mournful ; every thing was in a 

 dull and dismal unison. Even singing birds were 

 rare, and so incessant were the storms that such 

 as there were had no chance to sing. Now and 

 again, as you made your way through some valley 

 or over some hill, you might hear the voice of the 

 stonechat or the carol of a lark, the croak of a 

 raven, the whistle of the marmot, or a chatterino- 



О 



jackdaw ; all else was silent, sad, and inanimate. 



Near the eastern border of the Suma-hada moun- 

 tains the country of the Chakhars terminates, and the 

 aimak (principality) of the Urutes begins, extendincr 

 a long way to the west of Ala-shan, and bordering 

 on the south with the Tumites of Kuku-khoto and 



