Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 193 (Color Image)

0193	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. vII.] A DELIGHTFUL OASIS. 157

, noon. And now having no tent to pitch and

strike, no pack animals to load and unload, and

standing in no need of house accommodation,

we had nothing to delay us, and covered long

stages every day. On one day we accom-

plished nearly seventy miles, resting only five

and a quarter hours in the twenty-four.

Near Pi-chan we passed through a pretty,

well-cultivated country, through which ran a

charming little stream, its banks lined with

graceful poplars and willows. Numerous little

irrigation ducts were carried through the fields

and straight across the road, rather to the

hindrance of traffic ; though I found it a real

pleasure to hear the cart splashing through

water. There were a number of little hamlets

dotted over the plain, and many mosques, all

built of mud like everything else in the country.

' Many of them had piles of Ovis argali and

ibex horns on the ledges of the roofs, but I saw

no Ovis argali as fine as those which I obtained

in the Gobi. At two and a half miles from

Pi-chan the delightful oasis came to an end

abruptly, and we were on the same dreary

old gravel desert again. From a piece of

rising ground I obtained a good view of the

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