12 CAME. INORDINATE TEA- 



and present channels of the Hoang-ho which dry up 

 during the hot weather, but are full of water at flood- 

 time. Besides the main river and its channels, there 

 is no water in the valley, except in wells, which 

 are invariably very deep. The streams which 

 rise in the border range disappear immediately in 

 the soil, not one of them flowing as far as the 

 Hoang-ho. 



We found several wintering^ kinds of birds in the 

 valley, viz. Falco tinniinculus^ Circus sp. ? Plectro- 

 phanes lapponica, Otis tarda, Cotiirnix imtta, Anas 

 7'utila, and innumerable pheasants {Pkasianus torqua- 

 ttts). The latter haunt the long grass called diristin, 

 and owinof to the absence of water come to drink at 

 the wells, where they may be shot in any numbers 

 from a place of ambush. I preferred, however, 

 shooting them with my setter, Faust, and the first 

 day bagged twenty-five, besides losing some wounded 

 birds, which were difficult to find owing to the 

 length of the grass, and the pace at which they run. 



When the nature of the valley of the Hoang-ho 

 became steppe-like, kara-sultas and dzerens ap- 

 peared in numbers, and every day's sport included 

 some of these animals, which replenished our sup- 

 plies of provisions. However, the favourite delicacy 

 of the Mongol whom we hired at Ala-shan, as well 

 as of our Cossacks, was brick tea, which they con- 

 sumed in inordinate quantities, especially when milk 

 was procurable, which, to use an expression of the 

 Cossacks, ' whitened ' the tea and gave it a dainty 

 relish. A bucketful of this nectar was the usual 



