338 THE TSCHERTSCHEN DESERT.
Fig. 276. ON THE TOP OF A HIGH THRESHOLD WITH A THIN COVERING OF SNOW.
On the r st January 'goo bajir No. 38 proved less serviceable to us than its predecessors, for its floor was in great part studded with small dunes, difficult to travel amongst; its vegetation was much more scanty, and the dune-masses which surrounded it were unmistakably lower. Traces of the two rodents I have alluded to were quite common. The threshold at the southern end of the bajir turned out extremely deceptive. We made of course for its lowest saddle; but this, instead of soon coming to an end, continued to ascend higher and higher, and gradually passed over into a labyrinth of large, but perfectly barren, dunes, amongst which there was
but a solitary tamarisk or two to be seen. Climbing to the top of a high dune, we looked, but looked in vain, for the next bajir; the bajirs seemed now definitely to have come to an end. We had a free sweep for a long distance to the south, where the dunes appeared to be all of the same height; the gigantic dune-walls on the left were no longer present; the desert architecture seemed all of a sudden to have changed. Fortunately the dunes still lay favourable for us, from north-northwest to south-south-east, and turned their steep faces towards the west-south-west.
Fig. 277. GOING DOWN THE LEE SIDE OF A HIGH, SNOW-COVERED THRESHOLD.
IIIF Color HighRes
