28 DEPARTURE. LINGERING WINTER. 



beset the path of the traveller in countries so remote 

 and amidst so unfriendly a people, to succeed In our 

 enterprise.' These expectations were fully realised, 

 and good fortune never deserted us. 



On the morning of March 1 7th we left Kalgan, 

 taking the same route by which we had returned 

 the year before from Ala-shan. The first evening 

 we again felt the severity of the climate of Mon- 

 golia ; spring had not commenced here, although at 

 the end of February the weather at Kalgan was 

 tolerably warm. Waterfowl had appeared In large 

 numbers, and Insects were numerous. On the 

 plateau, however, all this was changed. The snow 

 had certainly all melted, but thick blocks of last 

 winter's ice still encumbered the streams ; the ther- 

 mometer marked several degrees of frost, cold winds 

 prevailed, and birds of passage had not yet ap- 

 peared ; In fact, the steppes of Mongolia bore a 

 wintry aspect. 



Like the spring of last year, the frost, wind, and 

 snow, varied by an occasional warm day, continued 

 throughout March and even the whole of April. The 

 atmospheric changes, especially from heat to cold, 

 were very sudden. Thus at i г.м. on March 25th, 

 the thermometer marked 22° Cent, of heat (72° 

 Fahr.), and the following day 5° Cent, of frost (23° 

 Fahr.). Again, In the beginning of April, after some 

 warm days, accompanied by thunderstorms, on the 

 night of the 12th two feet of snow fell, and the 

 mercury receded 19° Fahrenheit, after which frost 

 and snow continued till the end of April, when 



