Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/242

218 use ramrods to get the empty cartridge cases out of the Snider rifle. With the Berdan this never occurred, but its locks were injured by the cold and dust, and the cartridge often missed fire, only going off after a second blow of the hammer.

The climate of Northern Tibet during December and January is marked by the prevalence of severe frost, dearth of snow, and dust-storms.

Although in more southern latitudes than the warmest parts of Europe, we were often reminded here of the extreme north. At night the thermometer descended to −24° Fahr., occasionally when it was cloudy rising to 10° Fahr. However, as soon as the sun was high up in the heavens the mercury rapidly rose, and on four days stood above freezing point (or 32° Fahr.) at midday.

But little snow fell, and what there was in fine flakes, and as dry as dust; occasionally covering the surface an inch deep, but only for a short time, and vanishing with the next gale, when it became mixed up with the sand, and melted by the sun. It seldom happens during winter that these deserts are quite white, and even on the summits of high mountains the snow only lies in small patches on the northern slopes. The dust-storms which were so frequent invariably came from the west or north-west, and