Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/271

 beset by all the Chinese and Mongols who passed by, and well nigh exhausted our patience with their impudence. Once some Chinese soldiers actually demanded one of our guns or a revolver, and threatened, in case of our refusing to give them, to come in a body and take them from us.

At last the strayed camel was recaptured, and we set out for Lake Tsaideming-nor, about which we had heard from the Mongols. On the shores of that lake, which were reported to abound in game and good pasturage, we hoped to pass a fortnight, in order to rest our exhausted camels. We ourselves also required rest, besides that by staying in one place for a time we could study the flora and fauna of the Hoang-ho better. During the month of July, too, the heat every day is so intense that it is almost impossible to march even short distances with pack animals. The thermometer certainly did not mark over 37° Cent. (98° Fahr.) in the shade, but the sun burnt fiercely and sometimes heated both sand and clay to 70° Cent. (158° Fahr.); the camels could not set the bare soles of their feet on the burning soil, and their legs trembled with the pain. The water in the River became warmed to 24.5° Cent. (75° Fahr.); but in the lakes and marshes the temperature increased to 32.3° Cent. (90° Fahr.). The rains, which fell frequently and were usually accompanied by thunder, only temporarily refreshed the atmosphere. As soon as the clouds cleared away the sun's rays came down as hot as ever, and the heat became the more unbearable owing to