Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/259

Rh year before, at the same season, the maximum temperature in the valley of the Hoang-ho was 88° Fahr., and even in South-eastern Mongolia, near Kalgan, the thermometer in April 1871 showed 79° Fahr.

From all we have said it will be apparent that spring in Kan-su is as cold and humid as the summer and autumn; in fact the whole year round there is not one entire month of fine weather, such as we are accustomed to in other countries. In spring and autumn snow falls abundantly; the summer is wet; in winter the sky is clear, but the winds are bitter and tempestuous.

On our way from Chobsen to the mountains south of the Tatung-gol we passed the early part of May in the alpine zone, which was quite inanimate. Flocks of small birds had arrived in large numbers early in May, only to rest for awhile on the meadows or near the rocks, whilst the less hurried visitants still kept to the lower and more genial valleys. Vegetation was awakening but tardily, and the Ficaria and Primula were the only flowers out. Finding them, as we often did, on the alpine meadows beside unmelted snow, we wondered how they could adapt themselves to such unfavourable conditions. I saw primulæ, gentians, and irises uninjured by the frost (8° Fahr.) or the deep snow at night; and no sooner did the sun shine out than these children of spring decked themselves as brilliantly as ever, and appeared to be hastening to