BOATING ADVENTURES 
415 
done, and it was blowing hard, I used to go and sit 
on a rock by the shore, and imagine that the waves 
which came rolling in to my feet were beating against the 
wooded isles of the Skargard at home ; and a thousand 
memories of my native land would crowd in upon my 
mind, lighting up as with torches the dark night of my 
loneliness. I imagined myself a pilgrim resting in one 
of the most beautihil of Nature’s temples, at the threshold 
of which the snow-capped mountain-giants kept watch and 
ward. At their feet lay the lake wonderful, set like a 
jewel of the purest water, its bright placid surface making 
a glorious mirror for them to behold their own stern 
features in. 
It would be unjust to call the Little Kara-kul a life- 
less lake. In the course of my topographical labours I 
many a time disturbed thriving broods of wild - duck 
or wild - geese contentedly feeding among the rushes 
by the shore. On our approach they would fly out into 
the lake, with legs drooping and necks outstretched. At 
night too I often heard the wild-geese calling to their 
young, or heard their hoarse honking as they sailed away 
over the tent in large flocks. Occasionally there were 
gaps made in one or other of the broods ; for we were 
not averse to vary the deadly monotony of our daily fare. 
Most beautiful of all however were the atmospheric 
effects. With a master hand were painted the most en- 
thralling and gorgeous pictures — scenes so utterly unlike 
each other that I sometimes fancied myself transported 
to two or three different parts of the world all within the 
space of a few minutes. For instance, the sun would rise 
in a sky of purest blue, the atmosphere being still and 
warm, Mus-tagh-ata standing out in clear and sharp-cut 
relief, with the most delicate details of its blue shimmering 
snowfields, and every varying tint of its rounded and 
precipitous altitudes, traced in lines, of matchless beauty. 
The dark mountain-sides would be reflected in the ever- 
changing mirror of the lake, now a light lovely green, 
now a deep intense blue, while the hush of a perfect 
Sabbath day brooded over the whole scene. Then, all 
