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0598 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 598 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
引用形式選択: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

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After we had crossed a small area of Toghraks here all
dead, the dunes rose once more to over thirty feet, but
tamarisks grew plentifully between them. So when we
halted in the evening by the side of a big tamarisk-covered
cone we had fuel in plenty.
The well I had dug led through hard-frozen damp sand
to water at a depth of only three and a half feet, and the
water was now perfectly sweet. So there was contentment
throughout the camp. There was nothing to eat for the
camels, except bits from some huge cakes of bread I got
baked for them. This emergency treat was repeated
subsequently whenever we got water enough for the
purpose. It was amusing to watch how fond my burly
camels grew of their bread. By giving them the pieces
with my own hand I made a rapid advance in their friend-
ship. Willingly they would now let me stroke them instead
of meeting my friendly attentions, as so often before, with
surly grunts and unmannerly spitting.
Our march on February 4th seemed easy ; for the dunes
soon sank to a modest height, eight to ten feet, and only
two Dawans were encountered on the fourteen miles' march
to the south. Even over them there was good going.
Up to the middle of the march moist depressions showed
here and there amidst the dunes, and wells could have
been dug with ease. Dead Kumush showing on bare
patches of ground close to living tamarisks also seemed a
hopeful sign. But as we marched on, the number of dead
trees and bushes increased, while living Toghraks were now
rarely within view. The ground, where clear of dunes, had
changed to hard clay, and I was not surprised when at the
place where the dusk obliged us to halt, our attempt to
reach water by digging proved fruitless. The well was
sunk at the most likely spot, in a hollow below a big
Toghrak still living ; but after a shaft had been sunk to a
depth of fully fifteen feet the sand still felt so dry that the
work had to be abandoned. Evidently the subsoil water
from which the roots of this veteran drew their nourishment
was still far below this level. So the Shahyar men once
more grew despondent.
Next morning by daybreak I marched off ahead of the