Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/193

Rh and all through November, the autumnal weather was fine and clear, and though the night frosts were sharp (-9° Fahr. in October, and -13° Fahr. in November) the days were warm when the sun shone and there was no wind, and we enjoyed it the more after the constant rain and snow in Kan-su. Towards the end of October Lake Koko-nor remained unfrozen, only some of the smaller bays being covered with ice, but a month later the rivers, including the Baian-gol, were ice-bound. Very little snow fell, and the little that did fall soon disappeared under the combined influence of sun and wind. The natives said that even in winter snow was rare in Tsaidam and Koko-nor; in Kan-su, where the weather is generally clear at that season, it snows but little.

After taking our leave of the Tsing-hai-wang, we crossed a barren saline plain, in which are the two salt basins of Sir-ho-nor and Dulan-nor, after which we ascended a spur of the southern range, whence we saw the plain of Tsaidam in our front, and the Burkhan Buddha mountains, which rose like a wall, beyond it. The atmosphere in autumn is so clear that with the naked eye we could see the mountains although eighty miles off, and with a field-glass we could make out almost every cliff.

Before entering the salt marshes we crossed a wide undulating plain which connects them with the