140 BEAUTY OF THE LAKE. 



200 to 230 miles in circumference ; we could not, in- 

 deed, ascertain its exact size, but the natives told us 

 that it took a fortnight to go round it on foot, and 

 seven or eight days on horseback. Its shores are 

 very flat and shelving ; its water salt and undrinkable. 

 But this saltness imparts an exquisite dark blue colour 

 to the surface, which excites even the admiration of 

 the Mongols, who have compared it not inaptly to 

 blue silk. It is certainly very beautiful, especially as 

 we first saw it, late in autumn, when the snowclad 

 mountains formed a white frame for the velvety blue 

 waters which passed out of sight on the eastern 

 horizon. 



Many streams flow into Koko-nor, the more con- 

 siderable being eight in number, of which the Pou- 

 hain-gol, joining its south-western corner, is the 

 principal. 



As on other great lakes even a light breeze will 

 often raise its waves, ^ and it is rarely and only for 

 short intervals calm. Strong winds prevail about 

 the middle of November, when the lake freezes and 

 remains ice-bound till the end of March, i.e. for 4I 

 months. 



In the western part of the lake, some fourteen 

 miles from the southern shore, there is a rocky island ^ 



^ Hue asserts that there is a perceptible ebb and flow in this lake. 

 1 purposely stuck poles into it and convinced myself that there was no 

 regular rise and fall of the water. The descriptions of Hue, from 

 Lake Koko-nor forwards, are in general curiously inaccurate, as we 

 shall have more than once to remark. See Souvenirs iVttn Voyage, &c., 

 vol. ii. p. 185. 



- The inhabitants of the shores of Koko-nor say there is only one 

 island. 



