i8o NAME AND POSITION OF THE ORDOS COUNTRY. 



CHAPTER V. 



ORDOS. 



Detinition of Ordos — Nomads contrasted with settlers — Historical 

 sketch — Divisions — The Hoang-ho and its floods — Route up the 

 valley — Depth, width, and navigation of river — Old channels ; 

 deviation of its course — Disputes about boundaries — Flora of the 

 valley — Scanty vegetation — Liquorice root — Aspect of valley 

 changes — Kuzupchi sands— Terrors of the desert — Legends — Oases 

 and their vegetation — Sterility of the valley — Birds and animals^ 

 Traces of Dungan insurrection — A stray camel — Intense heat — 

 Lake Tsaideming-nor — Opium cultivation — Bathing — Superstition 

 about the tortoise — Flight of Chinghiz-Khan's wife — Tradition of 

 Chinghiz-Khan — The white Banner — Tomb of Chinghiz-Khan — 

 The Kara-sulta, or lilack-tailed antelope — Shooting these antelope 

 — Their haunts in the desert — Ruined temple of Shara-tsu — Scarce 

 population — Wild cattle — Their origin and habits — Two bulls 

 shot — Fishing ; Mosquitoes — Salt lake ; Ruins of city — Order of 

 march ; sweltering heat — Water ! the halt — Wolfish appetites ; 

 evening — Loss of a horse ; Djuldjig — Arbus-ula range ; Ding-hu — 

 Crossing Hoang-ho — Interview with Mandarin — Showing our guns 

 — Baggage examined — Mandarin robs us — Embarrassing situation 

 — Under arrest — Explanations — We take our departure. 



Of-iDOS is the country lying" within the northern bend 

 of the Yellow River, and bounded on the three 

 sides, north, east, and west, by that river, while on 

 the south it is bordered by the provinces of Shensi 

 and Kansu.' Its southern boundary is defined by 



' The country of the Ordus or Ordos, here called (as in the Russian) 

 for brevity simply ' Ordos,' the position of which is sufficiently defined 

 in the text, has received that name only in modern times. In ancient 

 days it was called ' Ho-nan,' viz. the land soi/f/i of the Ho or (Yellow) 

 River ; and by this name it is mentioned in the history of the Hiong- 

 nu, the Huns of Deguignes, who in the first or second century of the 



