324 UNKNOWN MONGOLIA 



morning three hours' march took us out of this in- 

 hospitable nullah on to a broad, grassy upland, where 

 the three small Chagan Nor lakes sparkled in the sun, 

 and where herds of horses and camels gave life to the 

 scene. On this upland we came across numbers of 

 derelict ammon horns, showing that we had reached 

 their winter range, A day's march due west on to 

 the higher ground, and we should no doubt have seen 

 them in the flesh, but we had decided to go farther 

 along the hills towards Suok, where we had hopes of 

 obtaining hunters before starting up towards the main 

 divide. 



The word " suok " is Turkish for cold, and you may be 

 pretty certain that, if a nomad of Central Asia indicates 

 a place by such a name, it is no place for a European 

 in winter. Though marked large on some maps, it is 

 merely a small Chinese frontier post on the main Kobdo- 

 Biisk route. When we were there it consisted of no 

 more than half a dozen yurts, occupied by a small 

 official and a few disreputable soldiers. They had no 

 uniform but a blue " jumper," which had a glaring 

 red " disc " on the breast, covered with Chinese 

 characters ; and their arms embraced every description 

 of antique gas-pipe. The head-man was most kind 

 and obliging. We drank tea with him in his stuffy 

 little yurt, overheated with a Russian stove, while he 

 looked at our passports. Their size and colour im- 

 pressed him, but I doubt very much if he could read 

 them, though he pretended to do so. Chinese etiquette 

 demands that a call should be returned immediately. 

 The snow was being driven before a biting north-easter 

 at the time, and I fancy that he did not particularly 

 enjoy his quarter of an hour in a flapping, draughty tent. 



