several itineraries have been described, I shall, by way of a finish to the whole, give a general view of the geographical and hypsometrical relations of the high
plateau-land of Tibet.
On the 2nd July we covered the long and tiring stage which reaches from Dunglik to Tatlik-bulak. No sooner did we leave behind the sharply drawn boundary of the narrow belt of scanty vegetation than we found ourselves on the absolutely barren saj that slopes gently up towards the foot of the mountains, the surface being hard, with coarse sand and thin gravel, but without the slightest trace of organic life, either old or new. The gad-flies, which are a veritable plague to both man and beast throughout the whole of the Lop country, disappeared as if by magic, and it was with a sense of intense relief that we no longer heard the unceasing drone and buzz of these insects. On our left the belt of vegetation gradually thinned out to a point; we were travelling away from it at an acute angle. Although the atmosphere was perfectly clear, all we saw of the lake of Kara-koschun and its kamisch was simply a thin, dark, horizontal line, backed by a faint, low-lying haze, which by its yellow tint betrayed that it was meant for dunes.
The part of the Astin-tagh which lay to the south of our route stood out distinctly, at first as a single range, but afterwards as two ranges. From the lowlands it was however impossible to make out its orographical structure. I took down the compass-bearings of four dominating peaks, the first three belonging apparently to the farther range, the fourth to the nearer range; this last was visible all day. The first broad, dry, slightly excavated erosion channel that we came across was the Asghanlik; it came from the S. 3o° E. and disappeared in the N. 3o° W. The second, much more deeply hollowed out, was the Julghunluk, and came from the S. 32° E. At the point where we crossed it, it was divided into three arms ;
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