SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 
steep mountain peaks, down frightful chasms and 
treacherous cliffs, and over wastes of sinking 
sand, but at last we reached Ching-pien Hsien, 
a small garrison town within a mile of the Great 
Wall, and the longed for Ordos Desert. 
However pleased we might be at having reached 
our goal we were nevertheless far from comfortable. 
The weather had turned very cold again; nothing 
but the very poorest food was obtainable. The 
air was filled with fine sand, which got into our 
eyes, scrunched between our teeth, and stung our 
faces as it was driven by the cruel north wind. 
“|. . I think never saw 
Such starved ignoble nature ; nothing throve : 
For flowers—as well expect a cedar grove ! 
But cockle, spurge, according to their law 
Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, 
You’d think ; a burr had been a treasure-trove. 
As for the grass, it grew as scant as hair 
In leprosy ; thin dry blades pricked the mud 
Which underneath looked kneaded up with blood.” 
The utter dreariness and desolation of the sur- 
rounding country, together with the poverty and 
wretchedness of the inhabitants, combined to de- 
press and harass our spirits, which were only 
restored to their normal condition by the assurance 
that the country beyond the Wall was much 
better. We made a short excursion as far as 
the Wall, and climbing one of the isolated towers, 
obtained our first view of the Ordos. 
16 
