412 DZUNGARIA 



some twenty miles from the lake-shore and some 2,000 ft. 

 above it, we were in absolute stillness ; and yet, strangely 

 enough, the waters of Ala Kul were tossed into waves — 

 the white crests being clearly seen with a glass, while 

 even with the naked eye breakers could be distinguished 

 dashing on to the southern shore of an island in the 

 middle of the lake. Although we were becalmed, there 

 was evidently a gale blowing through the " Gate," 

 and as we approached nearer we became at every step 

 more keenly alive to the action of this wind-trough. 

 At night we heard a distant roar as the imprisoned 

 winds of the Dzungarian deserts escaped through this 

 narrow defile. The only night we camped on the 

 very shore of the straits, the wind increased to such 

 a violence that our tents, though well protected in a 

 valley, were by the morning all blown away, for the 

 wind swept in great gusts over the hills, and the 

 back eddies tore them down ; the noise was terrific, 

 and sleep out of the question. This wind came from 

 the south, but threatening storm-clouds to the north 

 made us far more uneasy. 



Fortunately we succeeded in crossing the depression 

 in a nine hours' trek without mishap, a strong head-wind 

 being the only cause for annoyance. Had there been 

 rain or snow falling, travelling would have been im- 

 possible, but the wind was luckily from the south and 

 comparatively warm, the temperature at night only 

 just touching freezing-point. Only just in time did we 

 escape from this home of the winds, for the day after 

 crossing the valley, — when travelling southwards along 

 its western flanks, — the wind swung round to the north 

 and swept cruelly through the gap, bringing with it hail 

 and frozen snow. Had we then been journeying north- 



