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0514 Across Asia : vol.1
Across Asia : vol.1 / Page 514 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000221
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C. G. MANNERHEIM

of several dozen li. At Ydiava a charge of 30 tchok is made every time a horse is given a drink, a thing that was unknown anywhere in the desert I had crossed. The village of Khanshuiho that I have referred to forms an exception, as it obtains salt water from the river. — Traffic on this part of the road was quite insignificant to-day. —• The distance is estimated at 70 li. I would call it about 26 miles.

r li from Ydiava we passed its counterpart, Hsiao Ydiava, a village of about the same size. Very soon after we left the valley in which they were situated. The road took us zigzagging up a fairly considerable height and down again into another valley. The hill put a strain on the arbah horses, but the road was good. A little snow had fallen during the night, and a thin covering of white made the landscape stand out in greater relief.

After 15 li we passed a couple of mud huts. io li beyond lay a village with some patches of field round it. A small, deserted fortress stood on the hill on the left, near the village. The road now ran along the bottom of a ravine-like, comparatively broad and deep valley, which widened slightly for a distance of a few li. Then the gorge grew narrower again. The perpendicular reddish sides were fairly high, often taking on bizarre shapes, such as tall, delicate columns with beautiful facades etc. About 15 li from the last village the mountains grew larger and the löss gave way to granite. 5 li further on the gorge debouched into the broad valley of the Hwang ho. The river flowed further south and was not visible. My Chinese guide said that we had reached the valley of the Shagu ho. This was probably a minor tributary coming from the N that flowed between the road and the Hwang ho, but it was not clearly visible from the road either. We could only see a white surface of ice from time to time shimmering among the fruit trees growing in the valley below. The valley was several miles in width. In the N it was bounded by the mountains we had passed through yesterday arid to-day and in the S by a chain of considerable mountains with very rounded outlines, often flattened at the top. They looked like gigantic dunes placed next to each other with their short sides facing the river valley. The latter was densely cultivated and there were many fruit trees round the fields. The fields were level, cleared and rolled, as only the Chinese are able to keep their fields.

We set our course ESE and went along the foot of the mountains. For about ro li the road was soft with fields on the right and in some parts, on the left, too. No houses were visible, as they lay further south in the valley or possibly on the opposite bank of the river. There was a thick mist rising from the fields, so that it was impossible to distinguish objects clearly at a little distance. This was due to the snow that had fallen during the night and melted. We now came to slightly uneven and very stony ground. Here lay a village enclosed by a high wall. We crossed a river bed coming from the N which was less stony.

From the opposite and rather higher bank a lovely view of the Hwang ho valley was spread before us. The river seemed to come from the west, rolling its huge, dark waters in broad sweeps. The southern bank was densely populated and trees grew there. Beyond the populated area the ground rose in a high terrace that led up to the foot of the mighty chain of mountains. A few miles further west the northern chain of mountains, which was very considerable here, seemed to reach the river bed. A gate was visible on a spur of the

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january 29th. Lanchow.