le tree there; some short, brittle grass, which seems to have
much difficulty in issuing from this unfruitful soil, creeping briars, a
few scanty tufts of heath, such is the sole vegetation and pasturage of
Gobi. Water is very rarely seen; at long intervals you meet with a few
deep wells, dug for the convenience of the caravans that are obliged to
cross this dismal tract.

In Mongolia there are only two seasons in the year, nine months for
winter, and three for summer. Sometimes the heat is stifling,
particularly on the sandy steppes, but it only lasts a few days. The
nights, however, are almost invariably cold. In the Mongol countries,
cultivated by the Chinese, outside the Great Wall, all agricultural
labour must be comprehended within three months. As soon as the earth is
sufficiently thawed, they hastily set to work, or rather they do nothing
but touch the surface of the ground lightly with the plough; they then
immediately sow the seed; the corn grows with astonishing rapidity.
Whilst they are waiting for it to come to maturity, the men are
incessantly occupied in pulling up the weeds that overrun the plain.
Scarcely have they gathered in the harvest when the winter comes with its
terrible cold; during this season they thresh the corn. As the cold
makes vast crevices in the earth, they throw water over the surface of
the threshing-floor, which freezes forthwith, and creates for the
labourers, a place always smooth and admirably clean.

The excessive cold which prevails in Mongolia may be attributed to three
causes:--to the great elevation of the country; to the nitrous substances
with which it is strongly impregnated, and to the almost entire absence
of cultivation. In the places which the Chinese have cultivated the
temperature has risen in a remarkable degree; the heat goes on
increasing, so to speak, from year to year, as cultivation advances; so
that particular grain crops, which at first would not grow at all,
because of the cold, now ripen with wonderful success.

Mongolia, on account of its immense solitudes, has become the haunt of a
large number of wild animals. You see at every step, hares, pheasants,
eagles, yellow goats, grey squirrels, foxes and wolves. It is remarkable
that the wolves of Mongolia attack men rather than animals. They may be
seen, sometimes, passing at full gallop, through a flock of sheep, in
order to attack the shepherd. About the Great Wall they frequently visit
the Tart