CHAPTER XCIII. 
KOKO-NOR 
N ovember Sth. winter had come, laying its icy 
hand upon the country. The night echoed with the 
melancholy howling of the wolves, for it was snowing ; but 
as soon as the sun rose, the snow melted rapidly away. 
Hardly had we quitted our camping-station when a troop 
of wolves, in utter contempt of our dogs, sneaked into it, 
to see if we had left anything worth picking up. As for 
the dogs, they had the good sense not to approach too 
near to the intruders. 
Our next step was to cross the Yak River, an under- 
taking which proved easier than 1 anticipated. The 
stream was 250 feet wide, and had a volume of 600 
cubic feet in the second. Beautifully clear and bright, 
and gliding along without a sound, like a river of oil, 
the current travelled at the rate of three feet in the second. 
Beyond the principal stream came six other arms, but they 
contained nothing except frozen pools and fragments of 
ice. Beyond these again there was yet another arm, with 
a volume of 140 cubic feet in the second. Its water was 
muddy ; in all probability it drained off the earthy slopes 
of the hills to the north. 
Meanwhile we had travelled away from the Southern 
Koko-nor Range, or rather it had fallen away to the 
east-south-east, skirting closely the southern shore of 
Koko-nor. We caught occasional glimpses of the black 
tents of the Tanguts, and once or twice saw mounted 
Tanguts and their flocks of sheep. Far off in the east 
the horizon was marked by a straight dark blue line ; 
it was the large lake of Koko-nor. We encamped in 
