Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/34

14 at haphazard. Moreover, no further surveys were necessary, and the labours of the expedition were consequently lightened. This relieved us of very troublesome work; and indeed surveying in winter is so arduous that I got two fingers on each of my hands frostbitten whilst working with the compass.

Early in December we left the valley of the Yellow River, and ascended by the Shohoin-daban to the more elevated border of the plateau, where we again experienced severe cold. The thermometer at sunrise descended to —32.7° Cent. (—26° Fahr.); and the frost was often accompanied by strong winds and sleet. All this happened in the very place where in summer we had 37° Cent. (98° Fahr.) of heat. Thus the traveller in Central Asia must endure scorching heat and Siberian cold, and should be prepared for sudden changes from one extreme to the other.

My companion, still weak and shaken in health, was obliged to sit on horseback day after day, wrapt in a sheepskin cloak. We, who usually went on foot, did not feel the cold so much whilst on the march; but in camp the severity of the winter was felt by us all with a vengeance. How well I remember the purple glow of the setting sun in the west, and the cold blue shades of night stealing over the eastern sky. We would then unload our camels and pitch our tent, after first clearing away the snow, which was certainly not deep although dry and fine as dust. Then came the very important question of fuel, and one of the Cossacks usually rode forward to