422 DZUNGARIA 



the various papers they had got hold of, and by a display 

 of bluff on the part of Mr. Miller, all were eventually 

 returned intact. 



In arranging a programme of exploration in Central 

 Asia, the traveller has one great difficulty to contend 

 with — namely, the winter. Some, having experience 

 of lower latitudes, may be prone to criticize ; but let them 

 remember that in these regions the explorer has practic- 

 ally to stop work for four months owing to the cold. 

 From November to March we found it impossible to do 

 any survey-work ; the forming of scientific collections 

 was out of the question, and it was with difficulty that 

 we gained any knowledge of the character of the country, 

 for all was hidden under snow. On the road through 

 Southern Dzungaria we hoped to get an idea of the 

 number and size of the rivers ; but we were baulked in 

 our efforts, for we could not locate them; ice covered 

 the rivers, and snow hid the ice. The land-relief was 

 equally deceiving ; small depressions assumed gigantic 

 proportions, and low ranges of hills had the appearance 

 of high mountains. 



During December and the first half of January we 

 amused ourselves in various ways. Miller went off, in 

 spite of the cold, to the Kok-su Valley in the Tian Shan 

 to try for wapiti, where he remained for two weeks 

 without getting a chance of securing that most valued 

 of trophies. I remained in Kulja the greater part of 

 the time, plotting out my plane-table sheets, in pre- 

 paration for next summer's work. I prepared, on a 

 scale of 1:400,000, large sheets of all the Russian maps 

 of the regions we hoped to visit, on which I intended 

 to sketch in all the fresh detail that I obtained. This 

 work was varied by duck-flighting, — various hot springs 



