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| 0129 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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gorge cut by the waters of Nan-hu, to get bearings for the
plane-table. But scarcely had I reached it when the force
of the gale enveloped us in a cloud of driving sand, which
made it difficult to see farther than twenty to thirty yards,
or even to keep one's eyes open. It was a true 'Buran'
of the type with which I had become familiar in the Takla-
makan during the spring of 1901 ; but from the difference
of the ground it took a peculiar colouring.
Had the soil here consisted of the fine loess dust which
prevails throughout the Khotan and Keriya desert, there
would have been absolute darkness around us ; for the
force of the wind was so great that it could have carried
this along in clouds of great thickness. But with the
heavy coarse sand which forms most of the dunes about
Tun-huang the effect was different. Looking up to the
sky only a yellow haze screened us from the sun, while
along the ground there was swept a hail of small pebbles
and sand grains. The sensation to one's skin was distinctly
more trying than that of the dust carried by a Turkestan
storm. In order to gain some shelter we had to face the
gale, and in spite of goggles and wraps I found it difficult
to keep my eyes on the guide riding a few paces ahead.
I was still wondering what kind of camping-ground
awaited us for the night, when I noticed trees looming in
front, and fine dust instead of pelting sand whirling around.
Two miles' march in the teeth of the storm had brought
us down to a level plain, and to a small outlying hamlet of
Nan-hu, known as Shui-i, the existence of which had
previously been carefully concealed from me. To march
on in the thick haze of dust would have been awkward on
account of the risk of men and beasts going astray, and
when after an hour's wait the storm showed no signs of
abating I reluctantly gave the order for halting. I had
reason to feel grateful to Shui-i for the shelter it gave us
that evening. But the picture of the decay and squalor
which its three farms presented still remains freshly
impressed on my mind.
The larger of these dwellings where we had to seek
quarters struck me from the first as half a ruin, only await-
ing the advancing sand to be finally abandoned and buried.
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