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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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| 0134 |
The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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OCR Text
and it is evident that the wind has driven the sand from this
up into the hollow between the Hurku Hills and the range to
the south, thus forming these remarkable sandhills. Tradition
corroborates this supposition, for the Mongols say that a large
force had been collected, and was preparing to march to China,
when a mighty wind arose, blowing the sand of the desert
against them and burying them all together, with several
villages and temples. At the present time a stream runs along
the northern foot of the range; this stream has some patches
of meadow land on its banks, on which are pitched several
groups of Mongol yurts.
The country we passed through was undulating, sloping
downwards towards the range. In parts the soil was firm
gravel, and in parts very loose sand—much more loose than
ordinary sand. It seems to me that this is sand formed by
wind, and not by water; it is finer and more gritty. The actual
surface is very thinly coated with grey gravel, but this is so
thin that each footstep leaves a mark in white from the under-
lying sand.
After passing the end of the sand-range, we entered a
country different from any we had yet gone through. In
origin it was probably a plain of sand, but the wind's action
has broken it up into sandhills and depressions, making up a
scene which, for its extreme wildness and desolation, surpasses
anything I have ever seen. The elements of the air seem to
have fought with and rent the very surface of the land, and
the scene is one of indescribable confusion. 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. There they stood, 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. They rise in the most sudden manner out of a level
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