Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/290

 horses and the dog — the heated camels must not have any. But the refreshing effect of this was not lasting; in half an hour, or less, everything became as dry as before, and again we endured the scorching heat.

It is near midday, and soon time to halt. How far is it to the water? is the question we put to the first Mongol we meet on the road, and we learn to our sorrow that nearly four miles more remain before we can reach it. At length, having arrived at the well and selected our camping ground, we make the camels lie down, and take their packs off. The disciplined animals know directly what is coming, and lie down of their own accord. Then the tent is pitched, and all the necessary articles dragged into it and laid along the sides; in the centre is laid a piece of felting which supplies us with a bed. Then we have to collect the argols, and boil the brick tea, which is our ordinary drink winter and summer, especially whenever the water is bad. After tea, while waiting for dinner, I and my companion press the plants we have collected on the road, skin the birds and dress them for preserving, or seize a favourable minute for transferring to the map the survey of the day. This work in the inhabited country was frequently interrupted by the arrival of Mongols from the neighbouring yurtas: these visitors would annoy us with all kinds of