174 BURKHAN BUDDHA RANGE. 



CHAPTER VI. 



NORTHERN TIBET. 



The Burkhan Buddha mountains ; the effects of a rarefied atmosphere 

 — M. Hue's ' vapours of carbonic acid gas ' — The Nomokhun 

 stream — The Shuga mountain range and river — Tibetan frontier 

 — The Urundushi mountains — Sources of the Hoang-ho, and pil- 

 grimage thereto — The Baian-kara-ula range — Character of the 

 desert plateaux of Tibet — Extraordinary exhaustion produced by 

 exertion at high altitudes — Caravans to Lhassa — Time occupied 

 on the journey — Dangers and hardships of the road — Abun- 

 dance of animal life — Mammals — The wild yak ; its habits ; 

 its physical defects and low intelligence ; disease to which it is 

 subject — Wild yaks hooting — The animal hard to kill — Grandeur 

 of the sport — Mode of stalking — They rarely charge — Examples 

 of yak-shooting — The yak-meat — The white-breasted Argali — 

 The Orongo {Ant Hope Hodgsoni) — Large herds of these antelope 

 — Their unwary habits — Held sacred by Mongols — Unicorns — 

 The ata-dzeren, or little antelope — Its amazing swiftness — The 

 Tibetan wolf {Lupus Chanco) — The fox {Canis Corsac) — Birds 

 of Northern Tibet — Progress of journey — Travelling yurta — Intense 

 cold — Tattered garments — Rarefied atmosphere— The halt — Pre- 

 paring dinner — Long nights — Sport on the plateau — Climate — 

 Dust-storms — Chutun-dzamba — Arrival at the Murui-ussu — Limit 

 of the expedition — Necessity for return. 



The Burkhan Buddha range forms the southern 

 boundary of the marshy plains of Tsaidam, and at 

 the same time the northernmost Hmit of the lofty 

 plateau of Northern Tibet. Its length (according to 

 what we were told by the inhabitants) is about 130 

 miles from east to west, and while its eastern extre- 

 mity is near the Yegrai-ula ^ mountains and Lake 



^ The Yegrai-ula range is not far from the sources of the Yellow 

 River ; according to the Mongols it is not covered with perpetual snow, 



