2i8 WATER : THE HALT. 



horses and the dog — the heated camels must not 

 have any. But the refreshing effect of this was not 

 lasting ; in half an hour, or less, everything became 

 as dry as before, and again we endured the scorching 

 heat. 



It is near midday, and soon time to halt. How 

 far is it to the water ? is the question we put to the 

 first Mongol we meet on the road, and we learn to 

 our sorrow that nearly four miles more remain before 

 we can reach it. At length, having arrived at the 

 well and selected our camping ground, we make the 

 camels lie down,^ and take their packs off. The 

 disciplined animals know directly what is coming, 

 and lie down of their own accord. Then the tent 

 is pitched, and all the necessary articles dragged 

 into it and laid along the sides ; in the centre is laid 

 a piece of felting which supplies us with a bed. 

 Then we have to collect the argols, and boil the 

 brick tea, which is our ordinary drink winter and 

 summer, especially whenever the water is bad. 

 After tea, while waiting for dinner, I and my com- 

 panion press the plants we have collected on the 

 road, skin the birds and dress them for preserving, 

 or seize a favourable minute for transferring to the 

 map the survey of the day. This work in the in- 

 habited country was frequently interrupted by the 

 arrival of Mongols from the neighbouring yurtas : 

 these visitors would annoy us with all kinds of tire- 



' In summer camels cannot be watered or pastured directly after 

 unloading them, but they must be kept two hours quiet to give them 

 time to get cool. 



