1 170 
THROUGH ASIA 
called Russians. Later on we met five mounted men, 
leading some unsaddled horses. Loppsen of course swore 
that they were horse-thieves. After that again we met a 
caravan of sixty yaks, laden with all kinds of sacks and 
bags, and attended by six men on horseback, two of 
whom were Chinese. They were merchants from Si- 
ning-fu, carrying corn and flour to sell to the Tanguts 
of Koko-nor. 
November 14th. We followed the brook beside which 
we had encamped, and which w'as called the Tsunkuk-gol, 
for fifteen and a half miles. After being joined by several 
tributaries, it swelled into a stream of some magnitude, 
and flowing past Ten-kar and Si-ning-fu, entered the 
Hwang-ho (Yellow River) immediately above Lan-chow 
(Lan-chau). As this stream rose on the east side of the 
pass of Khara-kottel, we had now definitely left the internal 
drainage regions of Central Asia, and once more come 
into contact with rivers which issued into the oreat oceans. 
O 
The waters of the Tsunkuk-gol were on their way to the 
Pacific. We were therefore no longer shut up in the 
heart of the continent ; but after a period of three years 
we were once again in a Peripheral region. What an 
indescribable feeling of relief! 
The valley contracted towards the south-east, where the 
stream had cleft a deep gorge through the mountains. 
The mountains on the north were ramifications of the 
Nan-shan Range. Just where the valley began to narrow, 
there stood, by the side of the road, an animal hewn out of 
the granite and resting on a pediment. The place, which 
rejoiced in the name of Bar-khoto (Tiger Town), was said 
to mark the site of a former Chinese town. 
A short distance further on we met an enormous caravan 
of Dsun-sassak Mongols, who had been ten days in Ten- 
kar, laying in their winter supplies ; they were now return- 
ing home by the same route we had come. It was 
evident that the late autumn was judged the most suitable 
season in which to make such a long journey ; in summer 
the road is often stopped by the Bukhain-gol, the Yikeh- 
ulan-gol, and other rivers. We counted close upon three 
