Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/215

 and on the 5th and 6th June there were heavy hailstorms. But now and then the cold weather would give place to intense heat, reminding us that we were in 41° north latitude. Although the sky was often cloudy very little rain fell; a circumstance which, combined with the cold, checked vegetation. Even in the beginning of June the grass was barely above the ground, and hardly concealed the dirty yellowish mud and clay soil of the plain. The few bushes growing on the mountains were by this time mostly in flower, but they were so low and of such stunted growth, so choked with thorns and hidden by rocks, that they contributed very little towards enlivening the general aspect of the landscape. Neither were the fields cultivated by the Chinese as yet green, for in consequence of the late frosts the corn is not sown till the early part of June. In fact the face of Nature was lifeless and mournful; every thing was in a dull and dismal unison. Even singing birds were rare, and so incessant were the storms that such as there were had no chance to sing. Now and again, as you made your way through some valley or over some hill, you might hear the voice of the stonechat or the carol of a lark, the croak of a raven, the whistle of the marmot, or a chattering jackdaw; all else was silent, sad, and inanimate.

Near the eastern border of the Suma-hada mountains the country of the Chakhars terminates, and the aimak (principality) of the Urutes begins, extending a long way to the west of Ala-shan, and bordering on the south with the Tumites of Kuku-khoto and