SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 
we realized this, and as a result we were often 
very much confused at the answers we received 
when asking the distance to places. 
Leaving Ts’a-han-k’u-luan on July 18, we con- 
tinued over slightly undulating country till we 
reached a temple called Borrosun, where we stopped 
and had a cup of tea with a fat lama. Here we 
came upon the first Mongol encampments, for round 
the temple there were numerous tents, some of 
which were very fine indeed, denoting the presence 
of some petty chiefs. The lamas in the temple 
were very hospitable, serving us with their best 
and refusing with indignation our offer to pay 
for what we had received. 
After leaving Borrosun we once more encoun- 
tered cultivated fields and Chinese farms. Here 
wheat and mustard were being grown on a large 
scale. Sometimes a single field would stretch 
for a mile or more without a break. The Chinese 
settlers were all new in the country and many 
were still building shacks and huts to live in. We 
lunched at one of these farms, after which we 
continued in a_ north-north-easterly direction 
towards some low hills. As we crossed the first 
ridge of these we could see storm clouds gathering 
in the west, so that, when we reached a Mongol 
camp beside a small lake called Dahmun Nor, we 
hastened to pitch our tents. We were too late, 
however, and the storm struck us just as we had 
the first tent in position, but before it was pegged 
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