1044 
THROUGH ASIA 
ardently did I long for a sight of it ! All the more 
that I was now shut up in the heart of the vastest of 
the continents, many and many a mile from the eternal 
sea ! The tent with its covering of white snow made 
a conspicuous object in the midst of the grey lonely 
scene. Our wearied animals nibbled the scanty grass 
on the hills near by. Some of the men were asleep 
in their tent ; others sat outside, round the fire of wild- 
yak dung, which sent up a thick column of black smoke. 
Night came as welcome as an anxiously expected guest. 
Once in my fur nest of a bed, I soon became warm ; 
and on the wings of gentle dreams I visiteci that dear 
spot of earth towards which my desire grew stronger 
with every day that passed. But we were still a long, 
long way from Peking ; and thither I fmist go. But 
once there, I should consider myself at home. 
September 12th. At hve o’clock in the morning, when 
we set about getting ready for the start, the ground was 
everywhere covered with snow, right down to the shore 
of the lake. The landscape was snow, snow, snow — 
nothing but snow ; so that the icy summits of the Southern 
Mountains no longer gleamed out so prominently as they 
had hitherto done. But lono- before the morninp- was over, 
the sun had melted most of the snow, which, as it happened, 
had been heaped on the slope that looked towards the 
south and south-east. On the other hand the northern 
slopes remained white all day long, nor did the ice melt on 
the lagoons and streams. The temperature was the lowest 
we had hitherto experienced (io°9 Fahr. or - ii°7 C.), 
and it continued so until midday ; and even after that 
time it was bitterly cold, in consequence of a persistent 
wind from the north-west. Mv hands suffered the most, 
as I was unable to protect them ; I needed them every 
moment for map-sketching. 
Like all the previous lakes, lake No. 18 had an east- 
west direction, and was one of the largest we encountered: 
we travelled beside it the whole of the day (sixteen and 
three-quarter miles). Before us the view was illimitable ; 
on either hand were the giant mountains of the great 
