2i6 ANCIENT RUINS. 



in thickness. Chinese and Mongol labourers are 

 hired to dig it out ; when it is loaded into boats 

 which descend the Hoancj-ho. 



Another remarkable object which we had seen a 

 few days ago was the remains of an ancient town, 

 dating from the time of Chinghiz-Khan. These 

 historical ruins are situated amidst the sands of 

 Kuzupchi, twenty miles from the bank of the 

 River, whence they can be seen very well. Accord- 

 ing to the Mongols, this was a fortified and large 

 city. Each side of its quadrangular walls measured 

 1 5 li (about 5 miles), with a height and thickness of 

 some 50 feet. The wells inside are 350 feet deep. 

 The whole is now covered with sand-drift, nothing 

 but the walls remaining. We heard no legends 

 about the place ; all the Mongols could tell us was 

 that it was built by the orders of Chinghiz-Khan. 



The summer heats, which about the middle 

 of August had diminished, were renewed with 

 their former intensity in the latter part of that 

 month, and were terribly exhausting to us on the 

 march. Although we always rose with the dawn, 

 the packing of our things and loading the camels, 

 together with tea-drinking, without which neither 

 Cossack nor Mongol will begin a march for any- 

 thing in the world, occupied more than two hours, 

 and by the time we had started the sun was al- 

 ready high above the horizon. At such times a 

 perfectly clear sky and breathless atmosphere often 

 prepared us for the unwelcome advent of a hot day. 



The order of our caravan was always the same. 



