| glen one or two kilometers from our route, in a locality in which again traces of former cultivation exist. The next name is Kain-go, a large and broad watercourse. After that we passed on our right a considerable swelling of the surface and, traversing broken ground, approached the entrance to the deeply trenched and narrow glen of Gaschun-gol, in which there was a spring yielding water slightly saline. As usual, it had given origin to a sheet of ice and for a short distance, though for a short distance only, afforded nourishment to good and abundant vegetation. The glen has a wild and gloomy aspect, being a true gorge ensconced between walls of granite, heavily streaked with bands of black and grey. The detritus throughout this district consists in part of granite of every conceivable variety, in part of other crystalline rocks. The altitude is 2 274 m. Here again in the vicinity of Gaschun-gol we surprised a troop of 16 wild camels, three of them bughras, the others she-camels. They were peacefully grazing in company with a dozen kulans. On 2 2nd January there was a violent gale in the glen of Gaschun-gol, the wind coming capriciously in gusts and squalls. After crossing over a flatter swelling, we marched south-west up the rather large glen of Da-le-go, its watercourse broad at its lower end, and then over a couple of ridges, as high and steep as the walls of a fortress and running towards the north-east. From its western side one can reach the lower part of the glen known as Holustä (or Holustaj); which in its turn is joined by other side-glens and thus forms a principal glen, that does not appear to unite with Da-le-go. In this glen the brooks from the spring of Holustä had formed an extensive sheet of ice. Beside this brook we made our way up, bushes, grass, and thick kamisch growing on both banks; it is from this circumstance that the glen gets its name. Notwithstanding the cold, the brook was only frozen in the expansion of the glen. Camp CXXIX (alt. 2407 m.) was formed near the walls of a stone house, while a canal, carried along the hills on the left of the glen, had been used to irrigate the wheat-fields. Some thirty years ago four or five Tungans are said to have spent the warm season of the year here, cultivating wheat and barley. The spring of Holustä was situated just above our camp. The watercourse of Holustä as well as that of Da-le-go both descend to Tuj-murtu; indeed the brooks from over a wide area all appear to converge upon that place as into a funnel. This is looked upon as a very windy region, especially in the winter and spring; at the time of our visit the wind was blowing from the west-south-west. At length we found hard rock again, at the entrance to the glen, but it was excessively weathered and friable, and consisted of striped granite or crystalline schists; while at the camp we had black crystalline schists with white veins and crystals. From this point, which Littledale calls Holosetagh, my route coincided with that traveller's as far as Kan-ambal. On the Russian map we find the names of Cholustin-su and Cholustan-gol. Its Choptschik was not known to my guides. One of the watercourses east of Holustä it calls Tumirtu-gol; this is identical with Tujmurtu, and possibly it does as a fact designate the united stream that runs down to the lowlands. The violent gale continued all night and all day on the 23rd January. The mountains were shrouded in clouds, and at 2 p.m. it began to snow softly, and so | | |
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