THE DECEITFUL TAGHLIKS 
997 
another day — the third in all — at camp No. VIII. The 
weather still continued wintry. After midday it snowed 
from time to time, and after three o’clock a violent buran 
bore down upon us out of the north-west. It blew my 
tent over, but the tackle creaked and strained some time 
before it gave way, so that I was prepared for the upset, 
and no injury was done to anything inside. At eight 
o’clock it came on to hail, the hailstones rattling loudly 
upon the tent- covering. Then it was still again. By 
night the whole country was white with snow, except 
in the bottom of the brook, where the stream wound 
in a black sinuous line. The buran continued all night, 
and the tent bent to such a degree under the weight 
of the snow that several times I was forced to get up and 
shake it off. In that way the snow became packed up 
like a wall all round the tent, thus making it warmer and 
keeping out the draught. The snowstorm did not stop 
until well on in the afternoon of August 22nd, and until 
then we were unable to move. 
That day we made an extremely short march, not more 
than two and a quarter miles, the reason being that there 
was said to be no grass farther on. WA merely travelled 
up the left side of the valley before mentioned, which 
opened out from the east, and which, like the western 
latitudinal valley, was hemmed in by branch ranges 
of the Arka-tagh of a very considerable magnitude, till 
we reached the spot where Littledale’s caravan had 
encamped, and there we pitched our tent. We were 
greatly indebted to him, for we found such a large 
quantity of dry dung from his animals that we had fuel 
and to spare. It is curious how well animals’ dung keeps 
in those regions, for that which we gathered had lain more 
than a year. At first indeed we thought it was left by 
khulans, for some of those animals had visited the spot 
quite recently. The truth seems to be, that in those high 
altitudes it never rains, the downfall always assuming the 
form of snow or hail, otherwise the dung would soon 
become pulv^erized, then dry, and finally be blown away 
bv the wind. 
