Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/190

 It was fortunate for us that we had no need of their services, for a greater set of knaves and rogues does not exist. Our tent was our house, and we lived on what we shot. Antelope were plentiful, we had no lack of meat, and were never constrained to buy a sheep, for which we had to pay through the nose, if it were not, as often happened, absolutely refused. The fear inspired by our guns and revolvers was a protection against thieves; our skill in shooting birds on the wing, or bringing down antelope with the rifle at long distances, instilled into them a wholesome dread, and every robber knew that he would pay the penalty of his life if caught in the act of stealing.

The temperature in spring in South-eastern Mongolia was cold, with constant winds and a dry atmosphere.

The night frosts continued as late as the early part of May. On the 2nd of that month the surface of a small lake near which we were encamped was covered at sunrise with ice an inch thick, strong enough to bear a man's weight. Sudden changes in temperature occur even later, as we shall have occasion presently to remark.

North-westerly gales prevailed almost without Intermission during spring. It was seldom, and only for a few hours, calm. The violence of the wind, generally accompanied by cold, was very trying, and we now fully realised the true nature of these steppes. Clouds of sand and dust, mixed with fine particles of salt from the marshes, filled the air,