IV ARM WEATHER. FLOWERS. 243 



things in autumn. Among these was a pair of 

 boots, of which I was very glad, for they enabled 

 me to walk over the mountains Avith far greater 

 comfort than in those I had improvised for myself 

 We had also stored five pounds of sugar, which was 

 the greatest treat for us, deprived as we had been so 

 long of every European comfort ; and we bought a 

 yak of the Tangutans which supplied us with meat 

 for a long while. 



In the middle of May the weather in Kan-su 

 was spring-like and showery, and although night 

 frosts continued, the heat of the sun during the day 

 rapidly developed the vegetation. By the 27th of 

 the month, the trees in the central zones were turn- 

 ing green, whilst on the lower ground they were in 

 full leaf; the verdure looked brilliant when the sun 

 shone, ^ and many of the bushes and herbaceous 

 plants were covered with flowers. In the thick 

 underwood on the banks of the mountain streams 

 the wild rose, cherry, currant, gooseberry, honey- 

 suckle, and the barberry, with its long yellow clusters 

 of flowers, were in blossom ; to these must be added 

 the fragrant DapJme Altaica{}) and on the exposed 

 slopes the hawthorn and yellow caragana. In the 

 woods we saw anemones, wild hyacinths, peonies, 

 and whole beds of wild strawberry ; the valleys were 

 gaily decked with iris, primrose, and potentilla ; and 

 the slopes of the mountains with saxifrage, Draba, 



' The 26th was the warmest day in May ; the heat, 86° Fahn, in the 

 valley of the Tatung-gol being equal to the hottest day in July the 

 previous year. 



R 2 



