JERKING MEAT. M0S(2UIT0ES. 215 



cated arm of the Hoang-ho, near our camp. Some 

 holes in the river-bed held water, and were full of 

 fish, so that with our small net we caught in a short 

 time upwards of 100 lbs. of carp and sihirus ; the 

 latter of these is very common in the Hoang-ho. We 

 kept the best of the fish we caught, and returned the 

 remainder to the water. 



The sport with the wild oxen and jerking the 

 meat detained us eight days. But we had now 

 enouMi to last a lono- while, and could advance more 

 quickly ; the more so as the poor vegetation and 

 fauna of the valley of the river no longer presented 

 objects of any particular interest. 



On August 31st we resumed our march. The 

 sands of Kuzupchi were on our left, as before, and 

 on the right of our road lay the course of the 

 Hoang-ho. Thick underwood impeded our pro- 

 gress in places, and the number of mosquitoes and 

 small flies tormented us as well as our camels. The 

 latter have a particular dislike to these insects, which 

 are nowhere to be found in the deserts of the Mon- 

 golian plateau. 



At the end of the first day's march we passed 

 the night near the ferry of Gurbunduti,^ not far 

 from which, on the border of the sands of Kuzup- 

 chi, lies a small salt basin of the same name. We 

 ourselves did not see it, but we heard from the 

 Mongols that it was 2\ miles in circumference. 

 The layer of salt deposited is six inches to two feet 



' Between the towns of Bautu and Ding-hu there are three ferries 

 across the Hoang-ho : Dju-jing-fu, Gurbunduti, and Manting. 



