IMPURE WATER. 279 



insects, which are such a grievous torment in the 

 more fertile districts.^ 



On crossing" the frontier of the Khalka country 

 we entered the principahty of Tushetu-khan, and 

 hastened by forced marches to Urga, which was now 

 the goal we were so desirous of reaching. Nearly 

 three years of wanderings, attended by every kind 

 of privation and hardship, had so worn us out phy- 

 sically and morally that we felt most anxious for a 

 speedy termination of our journey ; besides which, 

 we were now travelling through the wildest part of 

 the Gobi, where want of water, heat, storms of wind, 

 in short every adverse condition, combined against 

 us, and day by day undermined what little of our 

 strength remained. 



I need only describe the water we had to drink 

 after crossing the Hurku hills, to give some idea of 

 our discomforts. Shortly before we passed through 

 this country a heavy fall of rain had choked up most 

 of the wells and had formed temporary lakes, by the 

 side of which Mongols were as usual encamped : 

 some of these lakes were but a hundred yards across 

 and two or three feet deep, yet a dozen or more 

 yurtas would often be seen pitched by them, and 

 their brackish water was rendered muddy and filthy 

 in the extreme by the large herds daily driven to 

 drink in it, the heat of the sun raising its tempera- 

 ture to 77°. The first sight of this water was enough 



* Tsaidam is an instance of this ; here cattle grow thin on good 

 pasturage, only recovering in winter when they are relieved from their 

 tormentors. 



