The greater part of our stage on 6th September lay along the northern shore of lake No XV, which is narrow and as usual elongated east and west and very salt. In its western part there appear to be springs at the bottom, for even in calm weather the water there was all aboil and in a state of eddy. Along the southern shore runs a relatively rather low range, with a gap in it indicative of a pass. North of the lake there is a chain of schistose rocks, pierced at intervals by transverse glens, the brooks of which festoon the lake shore. Sometimes the mountains fall so steeply into the lake, that we were forced to ride in the water when keeping to the abrasion terrace. The Arka-tagh was masked by this ridge; but the southern range was clearly and distinctly unfolded, without any masking by subsidiary foothills. At the eastern end of the lake there were rudimentary dunes built up of exceptionally course-grained sand. They were not more than i dm. high, so that they had the appearance merely of slight waves. They stretched north and south, and turned their steeper faces towards the east, for in that locality the prevailing wind blows from the west. The altitude of lake No. XV was 4896 m., that of Camp XX, a little farther east, 4915 m. A brook enters the lake from the east.
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