966 
THROUGH ASIA 
ONE OF OUR TAGHLIKS 
apparent tendency to form dunes. The plain was 
surrounded by circles of low hills and peaks still lower, 
the latter so irregularly disposed that I was unable to 
distinguish any continuous chain running in any definite 
direction. They were, there could be no doubt, the 
survivors of former mountain-chains, the portions which 
have resisted the tooth of denudation longest. 
The gale still continued, and about four o’clock de- 
veloped into a snow-buran. Our backs were lashed by 
the fine-grained snow, and the clouds raged off to the 
east, blotting out every feature of the landscape, so that 
we had some difficulty in keeping in the track of the 
caravan. But the ground had been warmed by the sun 
during the day, and the snow quickly melted. At length 
however we caught a glimpse of the white tents through 
