rments. They are one of the
necessary evils it seems, and no secret is made of it. The sleeping
_kangs_ of the Chinese inns, which are made of beaten earth and heated in
winter like an oven, harbor these pests the year round, not to mention the
filthy coverlets and greasy pillows that were sometimes offered us. Had we
not had our own sleeping-bags, and used the camera, provision-bag, and
coats for pillows, our life would have been intolerable. As it was there
was but little rest for the weary.

The longest station on the desert was thirty-one miles. This was the only
time that we suffered at all with thirst. In addition to the high mean
elevation of the Gobi, about four thousand feet, we had cloudy weather for
a considerable portion of the journey, and, in the Kan-su district, even a
heavy thunder-shower. These occasional summer rains form, here and there,
temporary meres and lakes, which are soon evaporated, leaving nothing
behind except a saline efflorescence. Elsewhere the ground is furrowed by
sudden torrents tearing down the slopes of the occasional hills or
mountains. These dried up river-beds furnished the only continuously hard
surfaces we found on the Gobi; although even here we were sometimes
brought up with a round turn in a chuck hole, with the sand flying above
our heads.

Our aneroid barometer registered approximately six thousand five hundred
feet, when we reached at dusk the summit of the highest range of hills we
encountered on the desert journey. But instead of the station-hut we
expected to find, we were confronted by an old Mongolian monastery. These
institutions, we had found, were generally situated as this one, at the
top of some difficult mountain-pass or at the mouth of some cavernous
gorge, where the pious intercessors might, to the best advantage, strive
to appease the wrathful forces of nature. In this line of duty the lama
was no doubt engaged when we walked into his feebly-lighted room, but,
like all Orientals, he would let nothing interfere with the performance of
his religious duties. With his gaze centered upon one spot, his fingers
flew over the string of beads in his lap, and his tongue over the
stereotyped prayers, with a rapidity that made our head swim. We stood
unnoticed till the end, when we were at once invited to a cup of tea, and
directed to our destination, five _li_ beyond. Toward this we plodded
through the growing darkness and rapidly cooling atmosphere; for in its
extreme