; but
the wind was so violent that it was only after long labour and much
patience that we completed the task.

While Samdadchiemba was boiling our tea, we amused ourselves with
watching the camels as they luxuriously licked up the saltpetre with
which the ground was powdered. Next they bent over the edge of the lake,
and inhaled long, insatiable draughts of the brackish water, which we
could see ascending their long necks as up some flexible pump.

We had been for some time occupied in this not unpicturesque recreation,
when, all of a sudden, we heard behind us a confused, tumultuous noise,
resembling the vehement flapping of sails, beaten about by contrary and
violent winds. Soon we distinguished, amid the uproar, loud cries
proceeding from Samdadchiemba. We hastened towards him, and were just in
time to prevent, by our co-operation, the typhoon from uprooting and
carrying off our linen _louvre_. Since our arrival, the wind, augmenting
in violence, had also changed its direction; so that it now blew exactly
from the quarter facing which we had placed the opening of our tent. We
had especial occasion to fear that the tent would be set on fire by the
lighted argols that were driven about by the wind. Our first business
therefore was to tack about; and after a while we succeeded in making our
tent secure, and so got off with our fear and a little fatigue. The
misadventure, however, put Samdadchiemba into a desperately bad humour
throughout the evening; for the wind, by extinguishing the fire, delayed
the preparation of his darling tea.

The wind fell as the night advanced, and by degrees the weather became
magnificent; the sky was clear, the moon full and bright, and the stars
glittered like diamonds. Alone, in this vast solitude, we distinguished
in the distance only the fantastic and indistinct outline of the
mountains which loomed in the horizon like gigantic phantoms, while the
only sound we heard was the cries of the thousand aquatic birds, as, on
the surface of the lakes, they contended for the ends of the reeds and
the broad leaves of the water-lily. Samdadchiemba was by no means a
person to appreciate the charms of this tranquil scene. He had succeeded
in again lighting the fire, and was absorbed in the preparation of his
tea. We accordingly left him squatted before the kettle, and went to
recite the service, walking round the larger lake, which was nearly half
a league in circuit. We had proceeded