Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/240

 this way they contrived to raise some nearly to the top, but before they could grasp the precious metal in their hands it fell back again, and no human power could extract it from the enchanted spot.

We spent three days in endeavouring to find a pass over the Munni-ula mountains (for neither Chinese nor Mongols would show us the road), first trying one valley, then another, without success; the valleys always narrowed into gorges, and perpendicular cliffs soon barred our further progress. At length on the third day we found a stream, the Ara-mirgin-gol, which we ascended almost to its source in the chief axis of the range, and here we pitched our tent in a small clearing in the forest.

Our appearance and stay in these mountains created a panic among the Chinese and Mongol inhabitants, who now saw Europeans for the first time, and could not imagine what kind of people we were. The reports and conjectures on our arrival were endless. The lamas actually consulted the auguries, and prohibited the Mongols from selling us provisions; this order emanated from the superior of the temple of Himping, and caused us some inconvenience, for our supplies were nearly exhausted at that time. We hoped to have been able to provide ourselves with food by the chase, but in our ignorance of the localities we did not bag any game for some days, and consequently were obliged to