Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/176

 fields. But they are so confined as to be ill adapted for human habitation, and some of the inhabitants are dreadfully disfigured by goîtres.

We passed numerous trains of carts, asses, and a few camels on the road, employed in the transport of rice and millet to Peking; large droves of swine were also being driven to the capital, pork being the favourite food of the Celestials. As we left behind the plains of China the climate gradually became colder, the thermometer at sunrise only marked 7° Fahr., but during the day it was warm, and snow had entirely disappeared, except on the northern slopes of the higher mountains.

The ascents are very gradual. Ku-peh-kau on the southern side of the mountains is only 700 feet above sea-level; while Dolon-nor, situated on the elevated plain, which spread out before us on issuing from the mountains, is 4,000 feet high. On the Mongolian side this region is sharply defined by an alpine chain which, as the inhabitants told us, extends a long distance to the north, and is probably the great Khingan range, separating Manchuria from Mongolia. Where we crossed, only one side of the range — that towards the mountains, is fully developed; on the other the wild scenery is suddenly transformed into low, rounded hills; vegetation undergoes as marked a change in the absence of trees and bushes. No more bold cliffs and pointed peaks, but in their stead vast uneven plains surround the spectator, where the marmot, the antelope, and the Mongol lark reappear.