Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/179

 this point of the road a succession of sandy hillocks, called by the natives Guchin-gurbu, i.e. thirty-three, extends as far as Dalai-nor. This name probably denoted the countless number of the hills, which vary in height from thirty to fifty, and in some instances 100 feet, and lie in close proximity to each other without any regularity. They are chiefly sand, in some places quite bare, but more frequently covered with grass or willow bushes, interspersed with an occasional oak, lime, and black and white birch. Quantities of hares and partridges are found in the underwood; pygargs and wolves in smaller numbers. We passed an occasional valley suited to cultivation, but the Mongol encampments were rare owing to the scarcity of water, although an occasional Chinese village might be seen. The numerous cart-tracks of Chinese, who come here from Dolon-nor to obtain wood for fuel, cause one easily to lose one's road without a guide, which happened to us several times during our first day's journey among the Guchin-gurbu. There are no landmarks to steer by, one hill is exactly like another, and as soon as you have ascended one, dozens more, all as though cast in the same mould, rise up in front of you. The Mongols say that these hills begin at the sources of the Shara-muren and continue for upwards of 150 miles to the west of Dalai-nor.

No sooner had we reached the shores of this lake than we witnessed the magnificent sight of a