176 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



When one looks closely one sees that the underlying soil 

 is very fine gravel and sand. 



There is little water in this region except surface 

 ponds, which are usually dry in summer, and caravans 

 depend upon wells. The water in the desert area con- 

 tains some alkali but, except in a few instances, the 

 impregnation is so slight that it is not especially dis- 

 agreeable to the taste. Mr. Larsen told me that there 

 is no part of the country between Kalgan and Urga in 

 which water cannot be found within ten or twenty feet 

 of the surface. I am not prepared to say what this arid 

 region could be made to produce. Doubtless, from the 

 standpoint of agriculture it would be of little impor- 

 tance but sheep and goats could live upon its summer 

 vegetation, I am sure. 



It is difficult to say where the Gobi really begins or 

 ends when crossing it between Kalgan and Urga, for 

 the grasslands both on the south and north merge so im- 

 perceptibly into the arid central part that there is no 

 real "edge" to the desert; however, it is safe to take 

 Panj-kiang as the southern margin, and Turin as the 

 northern limit, of the Gobi. Both in the north and south 

 the land is rich and fertile — inuch like the plains of Si- 

 beria or the prairies of Kansas and Nebraska. 



Such is the eastern Gobi from June to mid-Septem- 

 ber. In the winter, when the dried vegetation exposes 

 the surface soil, the whole aspect of the country is 

 changed and then it does resemble the popular concep- 

 tion of a desert. But what could be more desertlike 



