182 MY FIRST JOURNEY IN NORTH-EASTERN TIBET.
border of the vast open basin between the mountain-systems of the Tschimen-tagh and the Arka-tagh, a basin that is divisible, as we have seen, into the two self-contained basins of Atschik-köl and Kum-köl. On the other hand the drainage area of the Toghri-saj belongs to the Tschimen-valley, a third self-contained basin. On the west the region of Toghri-saj is bordered by immense offshoots from the region of the Tschertschen-darja, a region that forms part of the vast basin of East Tur-
kestan or Lop-nor.
I will now proceed to describe the glen of Toghri-saj and then endeavour to ascertain its position in relation to the mountains that lie nearest to it.
From Camp LXVIII, where the first wretched grass occurred in the glen, we proceeded towards the east-north-east. The glen is here broad and open; the surface is hard, being composed of fine consolidated material, with a little grass growing at intervals on gentle eminences. Small subsidiary glens join it from both sides. A dark mountain mass on the left forces the glen to turn to the east-southeast, but after two or three bends it again resumes its north-east direction. Beside the dark mountain-mass our glen is joined on the same side by a particularly large glen, which actually looks as big as itself. At the point of junction there is an expansion with good grass, and it was here we came upon the first three stone huts; they consisted simply of four square low stone walls, with a door-opening, but no roof.
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