200 to 230 miles in circumference; we could not, indeed, ascertain its exact size, but the natives told us that it took a fortnight to go round it on foot, and seven or eight days on horseback. Its shores are very flat and shelving; its water salt and undrinkable. But this saltness imparts an exquisite dark blue colour to the surface, which excites even the admiration of the Mongols, who have compared it not inaptly to blue silk. It is certainly very beautiful, especially as we first saw it, late in autumn, when the snowclad mountains formed a white frame for the velvety blue waters which passed out of sight on the eastern horizon.
Many streams flow into Koko-nor, the more considerable being eight in number, of which the Pouhain-gol, joining its south-western corner, is the principal.
As on other great lakes even a light breeze will often raise its waves,[1] and it is rarely and only for short intervals calm. Strong winds prevail about the middle of November, when the lake freezes and remains ice-bound till the end of March, i.e. for 4½ months.
In the western part of the lake, some fourteen miles from the southern shore, there is a rocky island[2]
- ↑ Huc asserts that there is a perceptible ebb and flow in this lake. I purposely stuck poles into it and convinced myself that there was no regular rise and fall of the water. The descriptions of Huc, from Lake Koko-nor forwards, are in general curiously inaccurate, as we shall have more than once to remark. See Souvenirs d'un Voyage, &c., vol. ii. p. 185.
- ↑ The inhabitants of the shores of Koko-nor say there is only one island.
