376 THE TSCHERTSCHEN DESERT.
floods are called generically ak-su, or »white water», because they are fed by the snow, and are turbid; or else they are known as sil-su, or »overflow water». There are said to have been wheat-fields a little below Schudang, near the Möldscha, but they had to be abandoned because the water was unable any longer to get down to them.
The vegetation on the way to Tschaltschik on 2 I st January was a good deal more abundant than before, especially poplar woods. At the same time the kamischfields were numerous and vigorous. It was but seldom that we saw low dunes. Kamaghas is bordered on the south by tolerably steep dunes, with sometimes a small toghrak, while on the north rises a terraced hill, with a rest-house built four years previously; and between the two there is a little hollow with springs in it, forming a reedy marsh or pool, which was at that time frozen over. However, good water may be obtained from a shallow well. A little hill to the left is crowned by the masar of Schejtlar, with its /ugh poles. At Tschaltschik there is a shepherd's hut. It snowed smartly all day, and all the following night, the wind blowing from the south-east.
Fig. 325. THREE VIEWS OF' THE HUTS AT SCHUDANG.
Quitting the road on the 22nd January at the masar, we turned our steps towards the north-west, making for a spot known as the kona-schahr, or »old town», the real object of the excursion. The poplar forest came to an end shortly after we left camp, and we then had an extremely disagreeable and difficult ground to reckon with, namely a perfect labyrinth of tamarisk-mounds, with living bushes on the top of them, and dead ones on their sides, while in between them was another labyrinth of low dunes. Every now and again the characteristic
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