These are nearly all the birds of the desert of Ala-shan. Migratory birds fly at a great height without stopping. At all events we only saw towards evening flocks of cranes sitting on the sand to pass the night in order to resume their flight early the next morning. Even magpies and crows are not seen in the plains of Ala-shan; and it is but now and then that a solitary kite sails along over the tent of the traveller, in the expectation of devouring the remnants of his meal.
Of the class of reptiles, lizards (Phrynocephalus sp., in smaller numbers Eremias sp.) are innumerable. These lizards are almost the exclusive food of the cranes, buzzards, and kites; even gulls fly hither from the Hoang-ho to seek this prey; wolves, foxes, and Mongol dogs also feed on these reptiles for want of something better to eat.
The population of Ala-shan is composed of Oliut (Eleuth) Mongols, to which race some of the inhabitants of Koko-nor, the Turguts,[1] and our Kalmucks belong. The Mongols of Ala-shan are very different in external appearance from the Khalkas, and appear to be a mixed race between the latter and the Chinese. Under the influence of the Celestials they have undergone a considerable change in character, and are not even surpassed by their neighbours in opium-smoking. Chinese industry, however, is unknown here, and Mongol laziness is preserved in all its original ugliness. Such is the influence everywhere exercised by the Chinese over the
- ↑ Vide supra, p. 231.
