and hardly any specimens were added to our ornithological collection, the weather continuing cold, snowy,[1] and tempestuous during the latter half of March.
Our fishing was far more successful; for although we only caught one kind, the Schizopygopsis (nov. sp.), yet this was in such quantities that on one occasion we actually hauled out with our small thirty-one foot casting net a hundred and thirty-six of them, averaging some two feet in length and nearly three pounds in weight. These, with the birds and antelope that we shot, were our exclusive food at this time. The roe of the fish, however, proved very unwholesome, and after eating it we were all seized with violent sickness, dysentery, and pains in the stomach. Fortunately the Mongol who was with us had not touched any, and was able to make a fire, at which we prepared hot poultices, taking internally some excellent cholera drops which we found in our medicine chest, and by these means we were all right the following day
Towards the end of March the weather became less severe, and on the 29th the lower course of the Pouhain-gol was free of ice, the lake still remaining frozen except near the mouths of streams. But the heat of the sun gradually thawed it, and on the 6th April a gale of wind suddenly sprang up and dispersed the ice. On the 7th large open spaces might be seen in all parts of the lake, whilst fragments of
- ↑ Snow fell seven times in the latter half of March; in the first fortnight in April it neither snowed nor rained once.
