CHAPTER XV 



A WINTER JOURNEY IN SOUTHERN DZUNGARIA ; ALONG 

 THE " IMPERIAL HIGH-ROAD " FROM KULJA TO KUMUL 



Snow had fallen on several occasions since our arrival 

 in Kulja. Not in the great, slow-falling flakes of an 

 English winter, but in a steady, continual fall of minute 

 particles. These fell swiftly, and lay or drifted, as 

 the case might be, whether in sheltered valleys or on 

 open steppe, causing the immense Central Asian land- 

 scape of endless plains and gigantic ranges to be under 

 a mantle of glistening snow-fields. The white expanse 

 lay unbroken, except where black lines of dead vegeta- 

 tion defined the river-courses or where dark blue 

 shadows on the mountains proved the existence of *' riven 

 ravine and splintered precipice," — where snow found no 

 resting-place. Central Asia — always a land of immen- 

 sity — is seen at its best and in its truest character in 

 midwinter. The countless leagues of " white silence " 

 then produce an awe-inspiring impression, but during the 

 hot, dusty summer the dreary monotony of the region 

 dissipates this impression, and although its vastness 

 dwarfs all one's previous ideas of sameness, no sense of 

 attraction remains. 



The dreary winter began at the end of November 



in the Hi Valley. It commenced with a series of snow- 



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