BARKUL 533 



which roam untamed over the steppes. These form 

 an Imperial Stud, and are said to number fifteen 

 thousand, the pick of which are transported yearly to 

 Pekin. 



Barkul was eventually left behind on April 21st ; we 

 then wandered westward with seven camels and a few 

 horses and camped by the lake-side. Bar Kul receives 

 the surplus drainage of the basin, and has a fine sheet 

 of water surrounded by luxuriant meadows bordering 

 on saline marshes. The lake itself tasted slightly brack- 

 ish, the analysis showing only 3 per cent, of salt : con- 

 trary to the highland lake of Tur Kul, which was too 

 salt to freeze, this lake, in spite of the advanced season, 

 had large ice-floes at its northern end. Old strands here 

 showed themselves at a height of 10 ft. or 11 ft. above 

 the present level ; there appeared to be but one level 

 for summer and winter, — ^unlike Tur Kul, which showed 

 traces of much variation in level during the year. 



Westwards the floor of the basin rose in a long, gentle 

 incline until it merged imperceptibly into the rolling 

 down-lands of the Tou-shui plateau, and thither we 

 hurried as fast as the counter-attraction of gazelle and 

 " kulon "-hunting alongside the track allowed us. This 

 westward slope of the basin was very dry and waterless 

 for twenty miles at a stretch, but, at this date, good 

 grass had already sprung up and the game from the 

 deserts of Eastern Dzungaria had sought out the early 

 grazing on these high plains for which man had little 

 use. Between Bar Kul and the Tou-shui main road we 

 saw only one Chinese guard-house and a couple of farms ; 

 a few others existed, it was said, nearer the main range 

 to the south, but, for the greater part, this region is 

 given over to wild-game and a few shepherds. We, 



