Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 165 (Color Image)

0165	Among the Celestials : vol.1

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CHAP. vi.] A WEIRD SPECTACLE.

133

furrowing out depressions, there piling up fan-

tastic sandhills, while, to add to the weirdness

of the spectacle, the country was covered with

tamarisk bushes, the roots of which had been

laid bare by the wind blowing the sand away,

till they stood everywhere with their gnarled

and contorted roots exposed to view. The

sandhills were sometimes very quaint and

curious in shape, but they usually ran in long

ridges, cutting into one another from every

direction.

I suggested to the 'guide that we should halt

for a day when we came to a good grazing-

ground, to let the camels pick up, and then

make a renewed effort to reach H ami ; but he

said that if they were to halt for one day, they

would not go on at all the next—the only thing

was to keep them at it. Rather like the cab-

horse in ` Pickwick,' which had to be kept in

harness for fear of it falling clown !

The Altai Mountains, rising to a height of

about nine thousand feet above the sea, and

covered with slight snow on the summit, now

lay about twenty-five miles to the north. They

were entirely bare, and the southern slopes

were steep, but not precipitous. In the centre

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