NEE, 
sunshine, broken by refreshing showers, our excursions on 
Olgin Lug and up the wooded mountain slopes, where the 
flora was rich and varied, were a joy. 
The plain itself is treeless, but along the banks of the 
Kurshab a few small junipers, Juniperus psendosabina, were 
growing. It is probable that the plain would by nature be 
densely forested and that the absence of trees is due to man. 
Not only is Olgin Lug situated on the caravan route to Kashgar, 
but it is inhabited as well by a number of Kirghiz. Their dome- 
shaped Kibitkas may be seen here and there, while their 
live stock, especially the Yak bulls, graze far and wide. 
These alone are sufficient to prevent the growth of new 
forests. They are very amusing, these sturdy diminutive 
oxen, with their horse’s tails and pig-like gruntings. They 
and their masters, the Kirghiz, the. barking dogs and the 
women, with high turbans, lend to Olgin Lug a populous and 
picturesque charm, increased by the ever moving caravans 
on their way to and from China and Pamir. These stop 
for a night on the plain and are soon off again, a long line 
of heavily burdened horses and camels, hung with bells and 
accompanied by drivers, horsemen and dogs. Marmots, (Arc- 
fomys marmotta var. dichroa) too, were lively. Their bur- 
rows were legion, and in riding great care was necessary, 
lest ones horse should stumble in one of their holes and 
break a leg. These small animals are both quick and shy, 
They would squeak as they perched or played about, only 
to disappear in great haste at one’s approach. We saw, too, 
many small, burrowing rodents, the gray and brownish gray 
Arvicola tianschanicus and the almost tail-less Ellobius tal- 
pinus. 
The plain is covered with grass, but the vegetation, 
which most closely resembles that of a meadow, as it is 
principally composed of mesophytic hemicryptophytes, was 
somewhat trampled down and cropped. I made note of 
Atropis convoluta, Festuca ovina var. vallesiaca, Carex steno- 
phylla var. desertorum (common), Avena desertorum, Alopecurus 
pratensis, as well as Cerastium falcatum, Lepyrodiclis holos- 
leoides and the little gray annual Alyssum desertorum and 
very tiny specimens of Erodium cicutarium, Rumex sp., Poten- 
