The country all about the foot of the hills at this point, was dotted with interesting mounds and ruins, and is said by the natives to have been the site of the ancient city of Ninghsia, which Genghiz Khan once destroyed, and which Marco Tele ited and described. Whil we were discussing directions with the cartman at the mouth of the ravine. I noticed along the base of the hills to the north several high conical mounds shaped like mammoth ant-mills. These, said the tmen, were the graves of the rulers of the kingdom of Hsia which the Mongols had obliterated. They occur at various places along the base of the hills for a distance of 300 li north of this point.
Immediately before the mouth of the ravine, there is an isolated hillock surmounted by a ruined watch-tower. We circled th hillock and found that from the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.