SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



The grandeur of that storm as it rolled down 

 from the north was superb. Heavy black clouds, 

 lit up in places by the westering sun, whose bright 

 rays they were about to cut off, came sweeping 

 over the granite peaks and down the steep slopes, 

 pouring out a white wall of hail, which seemed to 

 pass like a scythe over the waving fields of early 

 wheat. As the hurricane, driving before it the 

 yellow dust from the road, and swirling mists of 

 wind-sprayed rain, struck the tall poplars, they 

 groaned, bent and cracked. The stout trunks of 

 some snapped like matchwood ; others were uprooted 

 and hurled to the ground, where their leaves were 

 soon stripped off and beaten into the soil. Tele- 

 graph poles went down in rows before the fury 

 of that blast. As the heavy clouds came overhead 

 the light grew dim ; the rain and hail fairly shrieked 

 as it thrashed upon the unyielding rocks, or churned 

 the soft earth of the fields into frothy mud ; 

 jagged forks of lightning ripped through the inky 

 pall, followed by the crash of thunder, which 

 echoing and re-echoing through the ravines and 

 gorges sounded like the roll of cannon in battle. 

 Presently a dull persistent roar could be heard, 

 which steadily increased in volume till it drowned 

 all other sounds, and looking across the valley 

 we saw a mighty rushing torrent sweeping all 

 before it, and bearing upon its foaming surface 

 trees, bushes and debris of all kinds. The terrified 

 ponies whinnied and capered in their fear, but 



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