Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 35 



were so numerous that they formed quite a rockery like feature in 

 the landscape. 



On the 4th of January the character of the country changed, and 

 it now looked as if the whole surface of the ground had been cut 

 up into earthworks for purposes of fortification. Instead of the 

 gritty remains of a degraded granite, we now had much red sand. 



At 11 A.M. next day we sighted mountains before us. From the 

 fragments of rock strewn about in the pass leading through them, 

 they probably consisted of granite and greenish porphyry. The 

 place at which we crossed was called Haita, and the mountains, I 

 believe, the CFgundui Mountains. At this point magpies again 

 appeared. The rest of our road was mostly over rolling plains, 

 with here and there a ridge. By daybreak on the morning of the 

 9th of January I was leaving the Mongolian plains, and was 

 descending a steep and rocky pass towards Kalgan, which was then 

 almost beneath my feet, there being on all sides of me rocks of 

 unmistakably volcanic origin. 



While on this portion of my journey, which lasted 31 days, 

 . the thermometer registered from 0° to — 24° E. The ground was 

 almost everywhere covered with snow, which we had to scrape away 

 whenever we wished to pitch our tent. This was generally about 

 3 P.M., when we rested until 9 p.m., the remainder of the 24 hours 

 being spent in continuous travelling, time not being allowed even 

 for food. I had only one opportunity to take off any of my clothes, 

 and that was at Urga, where I also had a wash. This latter action 

 I repeated three times when the thermometer rose to — 10° R. 

 My time was chiefly spent in trying to thaw food for myself over 

 a small fire of camel's dung, or else in endeavouring to keep warm. 

 These circumstances, together with the fact that I was so bundled 

 in skins, that it was with difficulty I could walk, will, in part, 

 account for the meagreness of my observations along this section of 

 my journey, and the only reason that I now venture to offer them is, 

 that so little is known of this portion of the world. 



Conclusion. — This portion of Mongolia lying between Kiachta and 

 Kalgan, according to the measurements of MM, Fuss and V. Bunge, 

 and later Fritsche, would appear as a saucer-shaped plateau, the 

 outer edges of which are about 5000 feet above sea-level, while the 

 inner central part is only from 2000 to 2400 feet. The ascent to 

 this table-land is gentle and by a series of undulations upon the 

 northern side, while on the southern side it is precipitous and by a 

 single pass. The inner parts of this saucer, which is more elliptical 

 than circular in form, slope gently towards a level central area. The 

 whole of this shallow basin is traversed at intervals by low moun- 

 tains and rounded hills. From what I saw it would appear as if 

 volcanic rocks formed the predominating geological feature of the 

 country. These in the northern parts were more or less basaltic 

 and very often amygdaloidal. The amygdules of these rocks were 

 filled with some siliceous mineral like quartz, and this, I may add, 

 generally had a coating of a chloritic mineral interposed between 

 it and the sides of the cavity in which it rested. In the more 



