258 MOUNTAINS OF ALA-SHAN; 



Even on the highest summits the snow all melts in 

 spring, although it sometimes falls in May and June, 

 when it is raining on the neighbouring plains. The 

 rain and snowfall on these mountains is very large, 

 although running water is remarkably scanty ; even 

 springs are rare, and according to the Mongols only 

 two running streams of any size occur in the whole 

 range.^ This phenomenon is attributable to the 

 wall-like steepness of these mountains, which do 

 not retain the moisture for sufficient time to allow 

 of the formation of rivers. The torrents, which 

 owe their short-lived existence to the heavy rains, 

 descend headlong to the neighbouring desert, and 

 are lost in the sands or form temporary lakes on 

 the clay flats ; but as soon as the rain ceases they 

 disappear as suddenly as they were created. 



The narrow, but at the same time lofty and 

 rocky, chain of the Ala-shan mountains has been 

 elevated by subterranean agency, and stands like a 

 rampart in the midst of surrounding plains, exhibit- 

 ing a peculiar formation, and forming quite a distinct 

 group, as far as we could learn, unconnected with 

 the ranges of the Upper Hoang-ho ; it terminates 

 in the sandy deserts in the south-eastern corner of 

 Ala-shan. The chief rocks in these mountains are l 

 slates, limestone, felspar, felspathic porphyry, granu- 



time, snow lay on some of the peaks on the northern side ; from the 

 end of that month snow, accompanied by rain, ahvays fell in the upper 

 and central zone of the mountains. 



' Both these streams have their sources in Mount Bugutui. One 

 of them, the Bugutui-gol, flows to the west, and the other, the 

 Keshiklch-Murren, to the eastern slope of the mountains. On leaving 

 tlie mountains both these streams are lost in the desert. 



