14 FROST, WIND, AND SLEET. 



\ 



at haphazard. Moreover, no further surveys were 

 necessary, and the labours of the expedition were 

 consequently lightened. This relieved us of very 

 troublesome work ; and indeed surve^nng in winter 

 is so arduous that I got two fingers on each of my 

 hands frostbitten whilst working with the compass. 



Early in December Ave left the valley of the 

 Yellow River, and ascended by the Shohoin-daban 

 to the more elevated border of the plateau, where we 

 again experienced severe cold. The thermometer 

 at sunrise descended to —327° Cent. ( — 26° Fahr.) ; 

 and the frost was often accompanied by strong 

 winds and sleet. All this happened in the very 

 place where in summer we had 37° Cent. (98° 

 Fahr.) of heat. Thus the traveller in Central Asia 

 must endure scorching heat and Siberian cold, and 

 should be prepared for sudden changes from one 

 extreme to the other. 



My companion, still weak and shaken in health, 

 was obliged to sit on horseback day after day, wrapt 

 in a sheepskin cloak. We, who usually Avent on 

 foot, did not feel the cold so much whilst on the 

 march ; but in camp the severity of the winter \vas 

 felt by us all with a vengeance. How well I re- 

 member the purple glow of the setting sun in the 

 west, and the cold blue shades of night stealing over 

 the eastern sky. We луоиЫ then unload our camels 

 and pitch our tent, after first clearing away the snow, 

 which was certainly not deep although dry and fine 

 as dust. Then came the very important question of 

 fuel, and one of the Cossacks usually rode forward to 



