POISONED IV ELLS. 51 



ground, in which the salt water would collect. Some 

 of our companions had often made the journey be- 

 fore, and knew the way perfectly across these deserts. 

 They could tell directly which were the most likely 

 places for \vater : in some places the precious fluid 

 was not more than three feet below the surface ; in 

 most of the road-side wells it was generally very 

 bad, and, to make it worse, the Dungans often threw 

 into them the bodies of dead Mongols. I cannot 

 help shuddering now when I remember how one 

 day, after having drunk tea, we proceeded to give 

 some drink to the camels, and discovered the putrid 

 carcass of a man lying at the bottom of the well 

 from which we had drawn w^ater for our own use ! 



We could not sleep at the halting-places because 

 of the great heat of the soil and the stifling atmo- 

 sphere. Notwithstanding which, we had to remove 

 the pack-saddles of the camels to prevent their backs 

 from becoming sore, as they infallibly would in the 

 hot weather if we neglected this precaution. It took 

 us an hour to water our animals — a tedious process 

 which had to be performed every day in hot weather, 

 each camel consuming on an average six gallons at a 

 time. Even at night our rest was disturbed owing 

 to excessive exhaustion. 



For the first few days our tent was beset by 

 inquisitive visitors. They would know everything. 

 Our guns — every article we possessed, no matter 

 how insignificant, was an object of interest to them. 

 They would take it up, examine it closely, smell it, 

 and ask numberless questions, which we had to 



