AMONG THE MONGOLIAN LAKES 1123 
were not deposited until after they reached the more 
distant lake of Tossun-nor. 
After a journey of close upon sixteen miles we came to a 
halt near the shore of the lake, at the obo of Hlakimto, the 
handsomest structure of the kind we had yet seen, crown- 
ing a barren eminence, and visible to a great distance. 
It consisted of three cubical monuments resembling altars, 
built of sun-dried clay, and resting upon pyramidal 
pedestals. Around it eleven poles, standing upright 
in the ground, were arranged in the form of an oblong, 
all laced together by innumerable cords, whilst other 
cords connected the four corner poles diagonally with 
a twelfth, which overtopped the central and highest 
(ii ft. 9|- in. high) of the three monuments. Thousands 
of little flags or pieces of cloth, of every conceivable 
colour, as well as the shoulder-blades of sheep, all in- 
scribed with the everlasting Buddhist prayer “ On maneh 
padmeh hum,” were stitched to the cords. In the middle 
monument there was a large square hole. Into which 
Loppsen thrust his arm, and drew out a roll of long 
narrow strips of paper written all over with Tibetan 
script. He said there were also burkhans built into 
the structure, but those he durst not meddle with. 
The obo of Hlakimto was built, my men told me, in 
honour of the shibbtiks or cidsins of Kurlyk-nor, just as 
the obo of Tsagan propitiates the shibbtiks of Tossun- 
nor. Loppsen explained to me that the shibbtiks are 
spirits or guardian deities, who are alive and resemble 
men, but to mortal eyes are invisible. There are only 
good shibbtiks. It is to them that men are indebted 
for the existence of lakes, rivers, mountains, and so forth. 
In addition to these spirits, there are also gadserin-adstn 
or earth spirits, tengmdn- iidsin or sky spirits, nortmi- 
iidsin or lake spirits, and so on. But there are none 
in the desert ; and that is why men find there none of 
the things they have need of most. 
Seen in the moonlight, the obo presented a remarkably 
picturesque appearance. The three pyramidal structures 
were like ghosts, and the thousand pennants fluttered in 
