VALLEY OF THE HOANG-HO. 173 



valley of the Ubir-mirgin-gol,^ a rivulet which 

 flows for ten miles through the mountains before 

 issuing into the valley of the Hoang-ho. 



Here the scenery suddenly changes. The moun- 

 tains descend precipitously into the valley ; forests, 

 streams, and flowery meadows suddenly terminate, 

 and in their stead appears a sandy waterless plain 

 as level as a floor. The birds and animals of the 

 mountains disappear ; the call of the deer, the cluck 

 of the partridge, the woodpecker's noisy hammer, 

 and the music of singing birds are no longer heard ; 

 the antelope and larks reappear, and myriads of 

 grasshoppers fill the sultry noonday air with their 

 incessant chirruping. 



After leaving the mountains, we took an easterly 

 direction along the valley between the river and the 

 In-shan range. The Chinese population is very 

 dense, and their villages are nestled at the foot of 

 the mountains, probably to escape the heavy floods 

 of the Hoang-ho. The fields are large, well culti- 

 vated, and sown with millet, wheat, barley, buck- 

 wheat, oats, rice, maize, potatoes, hemp, peas and 

 beans, and in some places with pumpkins, water- 

 melons, common melons, and poppy. Owing to the 

 lower level of the land and the shelter afforded by 

 the mountains on the north, vegetation was very 

 forward ; some of the corn was ripening, and the 

 barley was ready to carry. 



Our next day's march of twenty-seven miles 



^ This stream, as well as the Ara-mirgin-gol, on issuing out of the 

 mountains disappears under ground. 



