1236 
THROUGH ASIA 
of three small huts, which were surrounded by a ring of 
fuel-carts. The well was 6 feet deep, the water salt, and its 
temperature 37°4 Fahr. (3°C.). 
Next day the country was alternately high sand-dunes, 
with their steep faces towards the east, steppes, level 
expanses of salt, and marshes. At dusk we came across 
two or three Chinese squatting round a fire. They told 
us it was fifty li (fourteen miles) to the next well and high 
sand all the way. We therefore halted where we were at 
Ka-to-khoa, where the well was four and a half feet deep, 
and its water sweet and good, with a temperature of 
33° I Fahr. (o°6 C.). 
On January 6th we got well into the heart of the barren 
sands, where the dunes were thirty to thirty-five feet high, 
and the only sign of vegetation an occasional thistle or 
withered prickly bush. The landscape was such as 
awakened both joyful and painful recollections of the past 
two years. When Yolldash ran to the top of a dune and 
looking towards the east saw nothing but sand, he barked 
pitifully ; no doubt he recollected our toilsome marches 
beside the shores of Lop-nor. The Desert of Ala-shan 
was not however so dangerous as the Takla-makan. It 
did not form one continuous unbroken expanse, like the 
Desert of Gobi, but consisted of several separate belts of 
sand, with steppes and marshes between them. All the 
same, the road was frequently difficult and heavy ; the 
camel is the only animal that could have traversed it. 
Yet despite its drawbacks we had evidence every day that 
it was a good deal used. For instance, we met a Chinese 
caravan of fifty camels conveying divers commodities from 
Bao-to (on the north of Ordos) to sell to the Mongols of 
Ala-shan ; it had been travelling for forty days. Our two 
Chinese camel-drivers were both of them first-rate fellows ; 
they looked after their camels and my baggage with zeal 
and energy, and kept travelling steadily on without a 
single murmur or complaint. 
The country presented the same characteristics during 
the three following days. The lee side of the dunes still 
continued to look towards the east, proving that the 
