ENTERING THE LAND OF MYSTERY 5 



built, into the hillsides, but are well-nigh invisible, for 

 every wall and roof is of the same brown earth. 



Ten miles or so from Kalgan we began on foot the 

 long climb up the pass which gives entrance to the great 

 plateau. I kept my eyes steadily on the pony's heels 

 until we reached a broad, flat terrace halfway up the 

 pass. Then I swvmg about that I might have, all at 

 once, the view which lay below us. It justified my great- 

 est hopes, for miles and miles of rolling hills stretched 

 away to where the far horizon met the Shansi Moun- 

 tains. 



It was a desolate country which I saw, for every wave 

 in this vast land-sea was cut and slashed by the knives 

 of wind and frost and rain, and lay in a chaotic mass of 

 gaping wounds — canons, ravines, and gullies, painted 

 in rainbow colors, crossing and cutting one another at 

 fantastic angles as far as the eye could see. 



When, a few moments later, we reached the very simi- 

 mit of the pass, I felt that no spot I had ever visited sat- 

 isfied my preconceived conceptions quite so thoroughly. 

 Behind and below us lay that stupendous relief map of 

 ravines and gorges; in front was a limitless stretch of 

 undulating plain, I knew then that I reaUy stood upon 

 the edge of the greatest plateau in all the world and 

 that it could be only Mongolia, 



We had tiffin at a tiny Chinese inn beside the road, 

 and trotted on toward Hei-ma-hou between waving 

 fields of wheat, buckwheat, millet, and oats — oats as 

 thick and "meaty" as any horse could wish to eat. 



After tifiin Coltman and Lucander rode rapidly ahead 



