252 DUNCAN RAVAGES. SEVERE WEATHER. 



although their nests were ready. In the middle of 

 June we could have collected any number of them 

 in the mountains, especially in the thickets on the 

 banks of streams ; but we could not remain longer 

 in the vicinity of Chertinton, so straitened were our 

 finances, which were again reduced to a small lump 

 of silver weighing only a few ounces. Owing to the 

 density of the population, moreover, game was 

 scarce, and we could not shoot enough to supply 

 ourselves with food. Under these circumstances we 

 were constrained to hurry our departure for Ala- 

 shan, for which country we set out, following the 

 same route by which we had come the year before 

 when travelling in the company of the Tangutan 

 caravan. Deserted villages lay by the roadside then 

 as now, although the Chinese population had begun 

 to reappear ; and it is most probable that in a few 

 years' time the ruined houses will be rebuilt, the 

 deserted fields cultivated, and the inhabitants as 

 numerous as they were before the Dungan insur- 

 rection. 



The first half of June was, contrary to our ex- 

 pectations, again characterised by severe, changeable 

 weather. On May 28th there was a fall of snow at 

 night, and the following four nights it froze {25° 

 Fahr.). In the second week of June, the very last 

 of our stay in Kan-su, the weather was even worse ; 

 for on the 9th of that month a violent storm con- 

 tinued the whole day, covering the ground to the 

 depth of a foot with snow ; towards morning there 

 was a sharp frost (23° Fahr.). and this occurred in 



