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8o ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
though the elements of the scene were, they nevertheless
impressed me with a feeling of solemnity. As we glided
in under the steep slopes of the dunes, it was as though
we were making our entry into a Gothic cathedral of simple,
but none the less sublime, architecture. Upon climbing
to the top of them, I saw the river winding away east-
wards like a ribbon of ethereal blue, until it melted out
of sight in the far distance ; and then, turning, I let my
eyes sweep across the barren and awful desert of sand
which stretches miles upon miles to the south.
Immediately below this point we received a hospitable
welcome in a little village where ten families of Loplik
race were living in airy kamish huts. Their bek invited
us to go with him fishing. At the edge of the ice, in the
throat of a long narrow creek or bay, he put down his
nets. Then a couple of canoes were driven at full speed
against the ice until it broke. Thereupon, a fresh net
was let down at the edge of the broken ice ; and so on,
turn and turn about, until the fishermen reached the
innermost end of the creek. Thither the fish, terrified by
the noise and uproar, had gradually retreated, and were
easily taken, while those that tried to escape became
entangled in the nets. On the present occasion we caught
26 fine fat fellows.
It was evident that our days on the river were now
numbered. During the night the temperature fell to
3.2° Fahr., and the water was very near the freezing-
point. The Lop-men prophesied that, after the first drift-
ice appeared, it would be only ten days before the river
was frozen throughout. It was with anxious expectation
that we looked forward to that happening. It came on
the 28th November. In the morning, when I looked
out of my tent, the surface of the river was dotted
all over with round disks of soft ice, each with a snow-
white chaplet of ice-needles at its edge. It was our first
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