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| 0116 |
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
Citation Information
OCR Text
December 7, a misty and bitterly cold day, for my first
winter campaign in the desert. Three dreary marches down
the Yurung-kash river, winding between fairly high sand-
dunes, brought us to the outlying small oasis of Tawakkel.
Turdi, an experienced old 'treasure-seeker' whom Bad-
ruddin Khan, the Aksakal or headman of the Indian traders
at Khotan and an ever helpful friend, used to employ on the
search for antiques, was to be our guide to the ruined site
some sixty miles off in a straight line to the north-east. To
him and others at Khotan belonging to the luckless little
fraternity of venturesome seekers for 'treasure' it was known
by the name of Dandan-oilik, 'the place of houses with
ivory'.
But I had engaged also two hardy Tawakkel hunters,
Ahmad Merghen and Kasim Akhun, who had guided Dr.
Hedin years before on his short visit to that site and then
down the Keriya river, to help us on the desert journey.
They were splendid men, inured to all hardships by their
roving life. They proved very useful from the start when it
came to collecting a party of thirty labourers for intended
excavations. Owing to superstitious fears and in view of the
expected rigours of the winter, the cultivators were natur-
ally reluctant to venture so far into the desert. Notwith-
standing the ample pay offered and stringent instructions
issued by P'an Ta-jên (Fig. 19), the scholarly Amban of
Khotan who befriended me then as on all my subsequent
journeys, it needed the confidence inspired by the two
hunters to overcome this reluctance.
Seven camels of mine and a dozen locally hired donkeys
had to suffice for the transport of the baggage of our whole
party and of food supplies for four weeks. The donkeys
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561
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571
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578
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