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| 0613 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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vegetation vanished. Even the tamarisks on their sand-
cones were all dead. The approach of sterile and forbidding
ridges of sand from the east decided me, after some four
miles, to steer to the south-west. This brought us, after a
time, back again to living tamarisk scrub in a depression.
But this was so closely hemmed in by big sand-cones that
it looked like a veritable trap in this treacherous dead
delta. The thought struck me in this sombre maze how
much better it would be to face a sea of dunes, barren
but open, if our supplies and the animals' strength should
give out before water was reached.
In a gloomy hollow between two high tamarisk cones
the men thought they could discover traces of moisture in
the sand. So a party was left behind under Ibrahim Beg's
direction to try and dig a well. I myself had my hopes
roused far more by the wide view which from the top of a
high ridge suddenly opened over sandy jungle to the south.
We had only covered eleven miles, when the sight of
many fine Toghraks still alive made the camel-men eagerly
plead for a halt. The heaps of dry leaves beneath the
trees would offer some grazing for the poor beasts. There
could be no doubt that the spot was a regular feeding-
ground for wild camels. Their tracks were exceedingly
frequent among the trees, and some looked perfectly fresh.
Most were pointing southwards, and there, we concluded,
must be the water whence the animals had come from.
But how far might it be yet?
For our ponies and camels the need of water was now
pressing. So Naik Ram Singh and myself set out in
different directions to seek for likely places to dig a well.
The rows of big Toghraks all aligned from north to south
gave a park-like look to the sandy jungle; but though I
struck another broad river bed before I had gone a mile or
so southward, no damp spot could be found anywhere at
its bottom. From a high tamarisk cone on the bank I was
scanning the horizon dark with scrub and Toghraks, and
yet without any encouraging sign, when I heard the Naik
shouting from a distance. He had an exciting tale to
tell when he came up panting. His search for moist sand
had been as futile as mine; but, going to the south-east,
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