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0588 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / Page 588 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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well-known track leading along the Tarim and then up
the Khotan river bed.
That I should have to abandon all hope of getting local
experience for the journey became certain when next
morning the fountain-head of all Shahyar topographical
knowledge was produced in the person of an age-bowed
hunter named Khalil. He was a quaint, withered little
man, well over eighty, credited with many expeditions after
wild camels, and a great deal of jungle experience. But he
had never been across the real desert, and stoutly denied
even hearing of a route to the Keriya River. Khalil, still
glib of tongue and quick-witted for a person of his age,
hobbled along with difficulty, but once lifted into the saddle
could do his day's march with ease. So he agreed to
guide us at least to the point in the forest belt of the
Tarim where Hedin had first touched a shepherd encamp-
ment. This, I thought, would now serve as the safest
starting-point in the reverse direction.