470 SOUTHERN DZUNGARIA 



flow from the mountain, we found that even in the 

 locaUties where the shghtest variation in rainfall would 

 make itself first felt, there were no indications of a 

 changing climate such as existed south of the Tian 

 Shan. 



Leaving the basin, we entered a black, stony desert, 

 destitute of fodder and water, this sterility continuing 

 until the level dropped to 4,000 ft. We there entered 

 the zone of grass and water, villages and cultivation, 

 a pleasant land inhabited by Turki Mohammedans, or 

 Chantos, who appealed to us as more picturesque, of 

 greater historical interest, and certainly more enter- 

 taining than the nondescript population of Dzungaria. 

 Chinese Turkestan is a continent inside a continent ; it 

 is secluded, and barriered from the outside world, its 

 inhabitants having been moulded into a peculiar people 

 by their unique physical surroundings. 



As we passed eastwards and water became more 

 abundant, pretty mud-built villages staged our route. 

 These were surrounded by orchards irrigated by rivulets 

 of clearest water ; there were picturesque mosques 

 standing on sacred ground, half hidden by gigantic elm- 

 trees ; and we heard once again the mellow voices of 

 the Mullahs calling the faithful to prayer. All this was 

 delightful after the restless atmosphere of Dzungaria. 

 We were treated here as honoured guests, and the dark- 

 eyed Chantos, with the hospitality for which they are 

 famed, entertained us as travellers in a strange land. 

 Beyond our immediate surroundings our view was en- 

 hanced by the wide panorama of the Barkul Range, 

 which, emerging out of the Tou-shui plateau, now ran 

 parallel with our route on the north, the snow-clad 

 summits and forested flanks forming a pleasant con- 



