8 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



to be interesting, and when they fell into the 

 water, neither man nor dog could be sent to 

 recover them, on account of the cold. During 

 the day, tamarisk branches were staked the 

 windward side of the bellying tents, while the 

 poles were strengthened by lashing them with 

 branches. The night I seem to have spent with 

 my head outside our tent to see if the nursery 

 tent was still standing, for no shriek would 

 have been heard in the tumult. About 1 A.M. it 

 did come down. 1 The children were rescued 

 from the flapping canvas, but the gale seemed 

 unappeased by its success ; and so the night 

 passed, to me an anxious one, as if our tent 

 failed, it was certain that no other in camp 

 would stand most of them indeed were by that 

 time down and the plight of women and 

 children in the intense cold would have been 

 serious. Next morning the wind dropped. That 

 was only a three days' gale. The height of misery 

 is reached when, as is often the case in Seistan, 

 the wind is full of sand, driven at any velocity 

 up to 120 miles an hour. 2 



1 There is a historic instance of a Persian king who was 

 killed by the flattening of his tent by a gale. As half 

 the broken pole generally remains upright, serious damage is 

 not usual. 



2 This velocity was actually recorded by the McMahon Com- 

 mission. 



