ii 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



found its way everywhere. Occasionally the march had to be 

 given up because the camels could not make head against the vio- 

 lence of the wind. 



A great ridge of bare sand, destitute of vegetation, at the 

 western end of the Husku Hills, about forty miles long and nine 

 hundred feet high, is associated with a tradition of a large mili- 

 tary force having once been collected and preparing to march to 

 China, when a mighty wind arose, blowing the sand against them 

 and burying them all, together with several villages and temples. 



The Altai Mountains are perfectly barren, with the upper por- 

 tion composed of bare rock and the lower of long gravel slopes, 

 formed of the debris of the rocks above. This debris is formed 

 under the influence of the extremes of the climate upon the unpro- 

 tected rock, with no rainfall sufficient to wash it away. So it 

 accumulates in a uniform slope, often thirty or forty miles in 

 length, leaving only a few hundred feet of the original jaggy out- 

 line of the mountain visible at the top. A prominent Altai peak 

 was pointed out to the traveler as covering a grassy hollow which 

 is frequented by wild camels. The Mongols are said to shoot these 

 animals for the sake of their skins, and also to catch the young 

 ones and train them to be ridden. They will go two hundred 

 miles a day for a week, but can not be broken to carry a load. 

 They are smaller than the tame camels, and are said to have short, 

 smooth hair, in place of the long hair of the ordinary Mongolian 

 camel. Considerable numbers of wild asses, and wild horses, the 

 Equus Prejevalski, were seen roaming around the plains. 



The most trying march in the desert was that of the last day, 

 which was performed in sight of the Tian Shan, or " Heavenly 

 Mountains." It was seventy miles in length, " and not a sign of 

 water could be found throughout, while the heat was intense, for 

 the wind blew off the heated gravel as from a furnace, and I used 

 to hold up my hand to protect my face from it, in the same way 

 as one would in front of a fire." On the next evening a friendly 

 voice welcomed the party as it was ascending the lower slopes of 

 the Tian Shan to a Turki house, with a stream of water running 

 by it. The country on the southern slope of the range still con- 

 tinued desert, but with a small oasis every fifteen or twenty miles, 

 containing a village and cultivated lands. A difference was at 

 once observed between the Turki and ordinary Chinese towns. 

 " In China the houses are, as a rule, large and well built, with pent 

 roofs and overhanging eaves. The shops are of a respectable size, 

 with plenty of room inside for the storage of goods for sale, and 

 for several bustling shopkeepers, who serve their customers from 

 behind good solid counters. In Turkistan the houses and shops are 

 more after the Indian style. They are built of mud, low, and flat- 

 roofed, and the shops small and heaped up all round with goods, 



