KOKO-NOR 
1159 
ngombo of the Tanguts, the Koko-nor (Koko-nur) of 
the Mongols, the Tsing-hai of the Chinese. For three 
days more we skirted its shores, which were situated at 
an altitude of 9975 feet above the level of the sea. 
Loppsen told me the following legend in explanation of 
the origin of the lake. In the grey far-off days of old, a 
great lama dug a vast hole in the ground. Then he took 
a white root and a black root of some plant, and holding 
them over the chasm cut the black root into two halves, out 
of which the water gushed forth in streams, until it filled 
the lake. If he had cut the white root, the hole would 
have been filled with milk. It was fortunate he cut the 
root out of which the water flowed, for otherwise the 
people who lived in those parts would not have been able 
to keep sheep, and so would have had nothing to do. 
After that the lama went up into a high mountain close by, 
and broke out of it an enormous piece of rock, and cast 
it into the middle of the lake ; and that was how the 
island was made. 
November loth. At the camp we lost another horse. 
On the whole the Mongolian horses were after all only 
moderate animals ; still they were very cheap. Most of 
them at the end of the first month’s travel were galled on 
the back. The Tanguts, who seldom use their horses for 
anything except riding, take better care of them ; but they 
also ask a higher price — for example, twenty liang or taels 
(^3 2s. 6 ci.) for a good average animal. It might have 
been expected that the Mongols, who are more dependent 
upon the breeding of horses than their Tangut neighbours, 
would produce a better race of animal, but such did not 
appear to be the case. As a beast of burden, the 
Tanguts employ the yak instead of the horse. The horses 
we brought from Khotan stood the fatigues of travel very 
much better than those we bought from the Mongols at 
Yikeh-tsohan-gol. It is true, they were better kept, for 
the Mongol horses were dependent entirely upon such 
grass as they picked up by the way; whereas in Northern 
Tibet we fed our horses to a great extent upon corn 
(maizeh 
