235 SLIPPERY PATHS. FORDING THE TATUNG. 



The road over the mountains was now more 

 difficult than ever, owing to the sHpperiness of the 

 patlis after the night frosts ; patches of winter snow 

 too Hngered on the northern sides of the higher 

 summits.^ Our loads, increased in weight by the 

 excess of humidity, lay heavier on the camels' 

 backs without the slightest increase of advantage to 

 us, and these animals, from lying on the damp 

 ground at night, began to cough and grow thin. 

 Our unshod horses were continually falling on the 

 slippery paths, so that we ourselves had to go on 

 foot ; an exercise for which the make-shift boots we 

 had improvised out of old leggings and yak-hide 

 were no better adapted than the thick-soled feet of 

 the camels. To add to our troubles we had twice 

 to ford the Tatung-gol ; the first time over the ice, 

 which had settled to the bottom of the river, and the 

 second time through four feet of water, in a place 

 where the current was rapid, and the channel full of 

 huge boulders. Had one of our camels missed its foot- 

 ing here, it must inevitably have been drowned, with 

 the precious burden of our collections. Besides other 

 work, I had now to survey the route back from the 

 Murui-ussu, having purposely avoided doing so on 

 the outward journey in order not to excite the sus- 

 ])icions of our guides. 



Although the mountains were no longer infested 

 by Dungans, we might at any time have a dis- 



' The cause of the small quantity of snow on the Kan-su mountains 

 so early in spring, is that the snowfall in winter is small, and soon 

 thaws in the sun, which on calm, Ijright days, even in February, is hot. 



