THE HEART OF ASIA 97
The change from winter to spring is said to come suddenly. April is often so warm that flies and gnats, an almost unendurable pest all summer, begin to be very troublesome. The summers are somewhat trying because of the long hot days and glaring sun. The temperature, even in the shade of the cultivated trees in the irrigated regions, sometimes rises to a hundred degrees. I did not find it particularly disagreeable, however, either in August, 1903, near Kash-gar, nor in June, July, and August, 1905, near Khotan. It was much like Utah. The heat was tiring, but if one stayed in the shade at noon, and did not exert himself, it was possible to be quite comfortable. Out in the open deserts of sand and gravel, however, the heat and glare were terrible. Even in September the sun raised the temperature of the sand in the Keriya desert to such a degree that one could not walk on it barefooted. In addition to the heat, the summer, like the spring, has an extremely disagreeable feature in the strong winds, generally from a northerly quarter. They rage violently at frequent intervals, darkening the air with dust from the never remote desert, filling one's eyes, nose, and mouth with dust and gritty sand, and making every one irritable.
By the middle of September in 1905, - and such, I believe is usually the case, — the winds had largely ceased, the hot season was past, and the weather was almost ideal. The air was crisp and invigorating; one could work hard in the sun, or sit still in the shade, without discomfort. Day by day the weather grew cooler and more bracing, but there was rarely any sudden change. In October I began to have a fire of dry tree trunks in the evening, but the days were
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