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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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in the desert—camel pack-saddles, water-casks, sacks for pro-
visions, ropes, and all the odds and ends which have to be
taken. Apart from their general sunburnt and weather-beaten
appearance, there is an unmistakable look about these caravan-
men by which they can always be distinguished. They invariably
have a peculiar slouch, a bend-over from the hips, and a stoop
about the shoulders, acquired from riding night after night
during those long dreary desert marches, bent over on the back
of a camel, or trudging along by their side in the listless, half-
sleepy way one cannot help indulging in on those monotonous
plains.
The retail trade of Kwei-hwa-cheng seems to be almost
entirely in articles required by travellers and by the Mongols.
Good coal is obtainable within two days.
Preparations for crossing the Gobi desert to Hami had now
to be made. Kwei-hwa-cheng was the last town in this direction,
and the starting-point of caravans for Eastern Turkestan.
Carts, or rather the mules or ponies which drew them, could
go no further, so I had to discharge them and look out for
camels. Sallying forth to the town on the day after my arrival,
I went with Mr. Clarke to visit the establishment of one of the
great firms which trade with Turkestan. Here in the yards
we saw rows of neatly bound loads of merchandise, brick tea,
cotton goods, silk, china, and ironmongery, all being made
up ready for a caravan which was about to start for Guchen, a
town some seven marches beyond Hami in the direction of
Kulja. Full information about the route was now at last forth-
coming, and I looked with the profoundest interest on men who
had actually been to these mist-like towns of Central Asia. It
appeared that there was a recognized route across the desert,
and that during the winter months a caravan would start about
once a month. But Guchen was the place to which the caravans
ordinarily went, and Hami was only occasionally visited by
them. The road to the latter place branched off at about ten
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