6 ASCENT OF GOBI PLATEAU. 



^one by the valley of the Hoang-ho along the foot 

 of' the range which borders it, and the other by the 

 western side of the same mountains, i.e. over the 

 highlands of the country of the Urutes. I chose 

 the latter road in order to acquaint myself with the 

 character of this part of the Gobi plateau. 



We ascended gradually some of the lov/ out- 

 lying hills of the chain which, as we have remarked, 

 are much lower than the rest. The appearance of 

 the plateau at first, with its sterility and naked sands, 

 reminded us of the desert of Ala-shan. Vegetation 

 is very scanty ; the wild wormwood and prickly con- 

 volvulus being the chief kinds. But as we advanced 

 to the north-west the soil improved, and at length, 

 80 miles beyond the boundary of Ala-shan, it be- 

 came clayey or clay mixed with shingle, and was 

 covered with short steppe grass. Here we at once 

 found those denizens of the Mongol steppes — the 

 dzerens, which are not met with in the whole of 

 Ala-shan. 



On ascending the plateau the climate rapidly 

 chanofed. The autumn weather durino- the whole of 

 October in the plains of Ala-shan was delightful, 

 and the temperature so warm that even in the 

 second half of this month at mid-day the ther- 

 mometer marked i2'5° Cent. (54° Fahr.) in the 

 shade, and on the 6th of November the surface of 

 the sand was heated to 43 "5° Cent. (109° Fahr.) ; 

 the night frosts were never severe, and the ther- 

 mometer did not fall below — 7*5° Cent. (20° Fahr.) 

 at sunrise. 



