KULIANG AND LIANG-CHU. 55 



On the clay flats, which alternate with the bare 

 sand, the most common plants in Southern as in 

 Northern Ala-shan, are the budarhana and karmyk, 

 occasionally the field mugwort, and a low stunted 

 shrub, the Sarcosygiiim xanthoxylon ; the zak, or 

 saxaicl, is never found here. The country is undu- 

 lating, and a few small hills now and then vary the 

 monotony, sometimes prolonged into chains. These 

 hills, never rising more than a few hundred feet 

 above the surrounding plain, are generally entirely 

 devoid of vegetation ; such as there is, it does not 

 differ from that of the adjacent desert. During our 

 march with the Tangutan caravan we saw no inhabi- 

 tants. Everything was destroyed and pillaged by 

 the Dungans, Avho sometimes made their appearance 

 in bands in Southern Ala-shan in quest of more 

 plunder. We saw by the roadside several human 

 skeletons, two ruined temples, and whole heaps of 

 putrefying corpses, half devoured by wolves. 



After crossing the Tingeri, we directed our march 

 along their southern border, over barren clay with 

 only two kinds of saline plants, and soon the mag- 

 nificent mountains of Kan-su rose in front of us, 

 towering above the adjacent plains like a huge 

 rampart ; while in the far distance the snowy peaks 

 of Kuliang and Liang-chu might be discerned. One 

 more march, and this grand range stood before us in 

 all the majesty of its matchless beauty. The desert 

 as suddenly terminated. Hardly more than a mile 

 from the sands, which extend far to the westward, 

 cultivated fields, flowery meadows, and Chinese 



