s of temperature the Gobi is at once both Siberian and Indian, and
that, too, within the short period of a few hours. Some of the mornings of
what proved to be very hot days were cold enough to make our extremities
fairly tingle.

[Illustration: A ROCKY PASS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE GOBI.]

A constant diet of bread and tea, together with the hard physical exercise
and mental anxiety, caused our strength at length to fail.

[Illustration: A WASTE OF BLACK SAND IN THE GOBI.]

The constant drinking of brackish water made one of us so ill that he
could retain no food. A high fever set in on the evening of August 15, and
as we pulled into the station of Bay-doon-sah, he was forced to go to bed
at once. The other, with the aid of our small medicine supply, endeavored
to ward off the ominous symptoms. In his anxiety, however, to do all that
was possible he made a serious blunder. Instead of antipyrin he
administered the poison, sulphate of zinc, which we carried to relieve our
eyes when inflamed by the alkali dust. This was swallowed before the truth
was discovered. It was an anxious moment for us both when we picked up the
paper from the floor and read the inscription. We could do nothing but
look at each other in silence. Happily it was an overdose, and the
vomiting which immediately followed relieved both the patient and the
anxious doctor. What to do we did not know. The patient now suggested that
his companion should go on without him, and, if possible, send back
medical aid or proper food; but not to remain and get worse himself. He,
on the other hand, refused to leave without the other. Then too, the
outlying town of Ngan-si-chou, the first where proper food and water could
be obtained, was only one day's journey away. Another effort was decided
upon. But when morning came, a violent hurricane from the southeast swept
the sand in our faces, and fairly blew the sick man over on his wheel.
Famishing with thirst, tired beyond expression, and burning with fever as
well as the withering heat, we reached at last the bank of the Su-la-ho.
Eagerly we plunged into its sluggish waters, and waded through under the
walls of Ngan-si-chou.

[Illustration: A ROAD MARK IN THE GOBI DESERT.]

Ngan-si-chou was almost completely destroyed during the late Dungan
rebellion. Little is now to be seen except heaps of rubbish, ruined
temples, and the scattered fragments of idols. The neglected gardens no
longer check the advancing sand