crossed and shallow throughout; it flows with a course of 200 miles {so the Mongols told us) along the southern foot of the range, and then disappears in the marshes of Western Tsaidam. Its valley, like that of the Nomokhun-gol, is grassy and fertile, compared with the sterile mountains on either side.
The Shuga range closely resembles the Burkhan Buddha. Here we find the same absence of life, the same bare slopes varying in colour and shade according to the nature of the clay, or of the rocks which cover them. Huge crags of limestone and epidote are piled on their summits, but by the Tibetan road the ascent and descent are gentle, although the absolute elevation is greater than that of the more northerly range.[1] In the centre of this chain five isolated peaks attain the limit of perpetual snow.[2]
This range forms the political boundary between Mongolia (i.e. the Tsaidam district) and Tibet. But the frontier is not laid down with accuracy, and the Tibetans claim the territory up to the Burkhan Buddha. Serious disputes, however, are not likely to arise, because for a distance of 530 miles along the Tibetan road, i.e. from the Burkhan Buddha to the southern slopes of the Tang-la, there is no popu-
- ↑ The pass over the Shuga is 15,500 feet.
- ↑ These five peaks were about five miles to the east of our line of march; their apparent height above the pass is 2,000 feet; in the middle of December and middle of February snow lay in quantities on their northern slopes, and on the south in a narrow belt only, near the very highest summits.
