172 CULTIVATED LAND. SALT MARSHES. 



high border-land. Here the soil is clay and shingle, 

 with occasional sand drift, where the saxaul, charac- 

 teristic of Ala-shan, at once appears. The clay flats 

 were for the most part entirely barren, bushes of 

 karmyk and tamarisk only growing here and there. 



A rare sight now met our eyes, for we came 

 upon a few acres of cultivated land sown with barley 

 and wheat. The largest plot of this cultivation 

 covered from twenty to thirty acres near the en- 

 campment of Tsing-hai-wang, to whom it belonged. 

 Agriculture is of quite recent introduction in Tsai- 

 dam, dating only from the time when, owing to the 

 Dungan insurrection, communications with Tonkir 

 were cut off, and the inhabitants could not obtain 

 the needful supplies of the barley which forms their 

 staple food. 



Our course lay across nothing but salt marshes 

 for 40 miles. There are no tracks here, and we 

 steered in a straight line, first over the bare salt 

 crust, and then over frozen clay. It was painful 

 walking for the animals ; some of the camels were 

 lamed by it, and the dogs could hardly put their 

 bleeding feet to the ground. 



On November 30 we reached the station of the 

 p-overnor of the banner of Tsunof-zasak, whence the 

 Gigen of Koko-nor had directed that we should be 

 supplied with guides to Lhassa. We concealed the 

 abandonment of our intention to go so far, in order 

 to avoid suspicion. The prince hesitated for some 

 time before selecting a guide for us. At length a 

 Mongol, by name Chutun-dzamba, who had been 



