1040 
THROUGH ASIA 
After doing nineteen and a quarter miles we halted for 
the night at the foot of some hills, and near a brook at the 
east end of the lake. Four khulans, a stallion and three 
mares, circled round our camp all the afternoon, being 
apparently greatly astonished at us all. Round and 
round they trotted, with a short springy step, their heads 
in the air and turned towards us, and their tails streaming 
out obliquely. I never grew tired of watching them ; 
they were such beautiful, such graceful creatures. 
On September 7th, the country was as monotonous as 
before. The broad depression or valley between the 
Arka-tagh and the Southern Range still continued to be 
divided into a series of self-contained lake-basins without 
outlet. At the east end of lake No. 15 we descended 
an imperceptible slope of soft, moist sand to a small 
threshold or watershed between that lake-basin and the 
next. The following day however the country improved 
a good deal ; the ground was hard, and the numerous 
watercourses small, so that we covered eighteen and 
a half miles. The almost dead level did not tire the 
animals anything like so much. Our worst enemy was the 
wind ; which visited us daily, thoroughly chilling tent and 
furs. Camp No. XXII. stood 16,195 above sea-level. 
On September 9th, we made the splendid record of 
twenty-four and three-quarter miles, our longest day’s 
march in Tibet. We crossed the low ridge between lake 
No. 16 and a broad open valley on the other side, which 
led down to the next lake, beside which we pitched camp 
No. XXIII. But this forcing of the pace cost us a horse 
and a donkey. We were often obliged to make longer 
marches than we liked in order to reach such pasturage 
as was to be found ; but this day we found none at all. 
We still had sufficient maize to last the animals ten days ; 
but we husbanded the strength of our best horses as much 
as we possibly could. The days of many of the others 
were already unmistakeably numbered. The highest 
altitudes of the Southern Mountain Range were becom- 
ing'more closely seamed with glaciers ; the mountain-sides 
were sheathed with their icy mail, like the flanks of 
