OVER THE TRANS-ALAI 
151 
shot two of them. These were immediately devoured by 
the rest, after which they all took to flight. 
At Bor-doba we rested a day. I employed it in making- 
scientific observations. For one thing, we cut a vertical 
section three feet deep through the snow, and found it 
was deposited in six separate layers, showing different 
degrees of purity and consistency. The bottom layer 
was 8^ inches thick, of a dirty appearance, and almost 
as hard as ice. The top layer, 17 inches thick, was 
soft and pure as wool. It is reasonable to suppose that 
the different layers or strata of snow corresponded to 
different periods of snowfall, and that those which lay 
underneath were pressed together by the weight of the 
superimposed layers ; so that during the winter of 1893-94 
about six vertical feet of snow must have fallen in the 
place where we made our section. The temperature of 
the air at three o’clock in the afternoon was 7°5 Fahr. 
(-I3°6 C.); the black-bulb insolation thermometer gave a 
reading of ii5°9 Fahr. (46°6 C.). Nevertheless at a depth 
of i|- inches in the snow the temperature was only 
-8°5 Fahr. [- 22 °^ C). This tends to prove that the 
differences in the daily range of temperature were scarcely 
sensible at even that slight depth, or distance, from the 
direct action of the sun’s rays. (The minimum of the 
preceding night was -i8°8 Fahr. or - 2%°2 C.) As we 
went down towards the surface of the solid ground, that is 
deeper, measuring from the crust of snow, we found that 
the temperature gradually increased. F’or instance, at a 
depth of 17 inches it was I2°2 Fahr. {-ii°C.); at 23 
inches I7°6 Fahr. (-8° C.) ; at 25 1 - inches 18° Fahr. 
{- 7°8 C.) ; at 27^^ inches 2i°7 Fahr. (-5°7 C.) ; and on the 
ground, or at a depth of 36 inches, 24°! Fahr. (-4°4 C.). 
The ground was frozen as hard as a stone. But with 
pickaxes and hatchets we made a hole two feet deep and 
put down a thermometer; it registered 30°4 Fahr. (-o°9 
C.). Taking the whole series of observations together, 
I came to the conclusion, that the solid earth freezes to 
a depth of a little over three feet and a quarter ; which 
agrees with the results I obtained in other parts of the 
