FROM THE ALTAI TO THE ILI 413 



wards the making of any headway would have been out 

 of the question, for neither man nor beast could have 

 faced the elements ; travelling as we were — with the 

 wind — we endured the cold and congratulated ourselves 

 on our fortunate escape. A bleak, inhospitable land- 

 scape now surrounded us, mountains, clad in fresh snow, 

 showed up here and there through breaks in the blurred 

 atmosphere, and great cloud-banks swept through the 

 *' straits," as if rushing through some gigantic funnel. 

 We enjoyed no rest until we were safely ensconced in 

 the broken and wind-worn granite range lying to the 

 north-west of Ebi Nor. 



The natives relate the usual traditions as to the 

 origin of the winds in this locality. In the myths 

 of Central Asia a ''hole in the mountain," or "an 

 iron gate in a lake " is the usual explanation of the 

 origin of winds. In the case of which I am writing 

 the island called Ala-tyube — a small extinct volcano in 

 Ala Kul — is made responsible for the furious winds which 

 sweep through the depression ; the wind is called " ebe," 

 or " yube " by the Kirghiz, and in special cases, when 

 it reaches its maximum velocity, the term " buran " is 

 applied. From autumn to spring the prevailing wind 

 is from the south-east.^ I think, however, that the 



^ I found considerable difficulty in getting reliable information as 

 to the prevailing winds of this district. A Russian who had lived at a 

 frontier post in the Dzungarian Gate said that the strongest biu^ans always 

 came from the south-east, while the rain-winds came from the north-west. 

 He said that " the air was always moving," but that autumn and spring 

 were especially marked as the windy seasons. Chinese soldiers in the 

 guard-houses on the high-road which passes the south end of Ebi Nor 

 where there is a belt of sand-dunes, claimed that, when the sand moved, 

 it always came from the north-west, or the direction of the Dzungarian Gate. 

 Their statement was proved by the fact that their guard-houses in the 

 sand-belt were banked up by high sand-dunes on the north-west. The 

 burans, they said, also came from the direction of the Gate. In contra- 



