THE SACRED MOUNTAIN 537 



The existence, also, of a romantic alpine lake, at an 

 altitude of 6,625 ft., — embosomed in the highest forests, 

 close under the silent glaciers and snow-fields, — ^forms a 

 scene of such beauty as to make it an object of worship 

 by a myth-loving race. 



The Bogdo-ola was first explored by the brother- 

 travellers, Grum-Grjimailo, in 1889-90, who mapped the 

 essential features of the range, visited its sacred lake 

 and the glaciers above, but did not penetrate farther 

 into the alpine region. The maps they produced were 

 poor in detail, and are now proved to be inaccurate ; 

 but they stood for long as the only survey of the 

 Bogdo-ola. No other traveller came to this remark- 

 able mountain-group for eighteen years ; then Merz- 

 bacher, in 1908, concluded his exhaustive exploration 

 of the Tian Shan by a visit to the central portion of 

 the range. He thoroughly explored the main valley 

 of Bogdo-ola, made two ascents of about 13,000 ft. 

 on the northern edge of the central mass and achieved 

 a still higher ascent on the south ; he then crossed the 

 central part of the range from north to south by the 

 Miskan Pass. A great deal of scientific interest re- 

 garding the geological formation of the range and its 

 excessive glaciation resulted from Merzbacher's work, 

 but there still remains much detailed survey-work to 

 be accomplished. East of Long. 89° 40' the higher 

 portions of the range are quite unknown, and the 

 upper sources of the rivers on north and south have 

 never been visited. 



The second week of May showed us, as we rode from 

 Guchen into the foot-hills at the base of the range, what 

 the Bogdo-ola can supply in the way of samples of climate. 

 The early days of May had been hot, the elms and 



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