The
snow was within half an hour's climb, while at the same time the sun
shone with such power as to blister our faces, and even to affect the
black part of the expedition, rendered somewhat tender, no doubt, by
the unusual mixture of heat and cold to which they had already been
exposed. We encamped here under a grove of apricot and apple-trees,
which resulted in the production of an apple-dumpling for dinner.
AUGUST 11. - Leaving Suspul, we ascended considerably to the village
of Buzgo, another of the cloud-built little settlements so dear to
the Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely pitched upon the
extreme tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them
access seemed apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon
a desert of shifting sand and stones, in the midst of which there
was an unusually long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which,
although containing the same inscription, was of a different pattern
from any I had hitherto discovered.[23]
The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the
existence of numerous little springs of crystal water, which enabled
the waving corn to raise its golden head, and the apricot and the
apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the general barrenness
and sterility which reigned around.
After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights of a bathe under a
waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven o'clock.
