Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/308

282 hills, beyond which lie the well-watered districts of Northern Mongolia.

The poor pasturage of the Central Gobi now gives place to rich meadow-land, increasing in luxuriance the nearer we approach Urga. The karmyk, the budarhana, and the onion entirely disappear, and are replaced by several kinds of grasses, vetches, Compositæ and carnations. Animal life, too, becomes suddenly abundant. Dzerens roam over the fat pasture-lands, alpine hares (Lagomys ogotono) and marmots (Arctomys bobac) bask in the sunshine, and high up in the sky soars the lark, whose familiar song we had not heard since we left Kan-su.

Water, however, is still as scarce as ever; of lakes and rivers there are none, and only an occasional spring or well, at no depth below the surface. Indeed between Ala-shan and Urga we never saw a well deeper than eight feet, and water is generally obtainable at a less depth by digging for it in the right place.

As for the climate of these last months in Mongolia, I should say that the heat in July and August is equally severe, the thermometer rising to 97° Fahr. in the shade. The nights are always warm, sometimes hot, and the air exceedingly dry, no dew falling. We had not a single good shower, although large clouds often gathered only to send a few drops