Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/35

Rh the nearest Mongol yurta to buy argols if we had not already laid in a supply. We paid a high price for the argols, but this was a lesser ill; how much worse was it when they refused to sell them to us, as the Chinese often did! Once, at our wits' end for fuel, we were obliged to cut up a saddle in order to boil a little tea, and had to content ourselves with this frugal supper after a march of 23 miles in severe cold and snow-storm!

When a fire was lighted inside our tent the warmth was sufficient at all events for that part of the body which was immediately turned towards the hearth; but the smoke irritated the eyes, and when aggravated by dust became almost unbearable. In winter the steam from the open soup-kettle completely filled our tent, reminding us of a Russian bath, only that of course the temperature was very different. Boiled meat became quite cold before we had time to eat it, and the hands and mouth were covered with a layer of grease which had to be scraped off with a knife. And in the stearine candle that lighted us at supper-time, the part close to the wick would burn down so low, that we had from time to time to break off the outer shell, which remained unaffected by the flame.

For the night we piled round the tent all the packs and closed the entrance as tightly as possible, but notwithstanding all these precautions the temperature inside our dwelling was very little warmer than out of doors, as we kept up no fire after supper-time until morning. We all slept under fur