4 KHAN-ULA MOUNTAINS. 



that a camel load of salt fetches i^ to 2 lans, 7^. bd. 

 to loi-., at Bautu. 



The environs of this lake are almost devoid of 

 vegetation, and present a desolate aspect, particu- 

 larly in summer, when the heat is so intense as to 

 put a stop for a time to the salt industry. 



The sparkling surface of Djaratai-dabas appears 

 like water in the distance, and resembles ice when 

 you are near it. So deceptive is its appearance that 

 a flock of swans, apparently attracted by the sight of 

 water in the desert, descended before our very eyes 

 almost to the surface of the false lake, but discover- 

 ing their mistake rose again in the air with affrighted 

 cry, and continued their flight. 



In the north of Ala-shan, not far from the well 

 of Moriteh, where we halted in consequence of the 

 illness of M. Pyltseff, there rises from the plain a 

 comparatively small but rugged group of mountains, 

 the Khan-ula or Haldzyn-burgontu, forming the last 

 elbow of the border range on the left bank of the 

 Hoang-ho. This range, known to the Mongols as 

 the Kara-narin-ula ^ (black pointed mountains), be- 

 gins at the Haliutai River, and continuino; in a 

 south-westerly direction for about 200 miles as far 

 as the northern boundary of Ala-shan, terminates 

 in some low rocky hills rising from the sandy plain ; 

 its southern branches, which attain a considerable 

 height at Khan-ula, but soon diminish in size, alone 

 extending a short distance beyond Djaratai-dabas, 



1 These mountains are not generally known by this name, which 

 we only heard applied to them by some lamas. 



