56 ACROSS THE DESERT 



Turki town. Everywhere trees showed how 

 beautiful an Eden this must appear to the parched 

 traveller arriving from the^ desert during the 

 summer months, with its glittering springs by 

 which the oasis is irrigated. 



The whole of this region is extremely interesting, 

 whether from an ethnographical or from a geo- 

 graphical point of view. From neither standpoint 

 am I qualified to speak, being but a field naturalist 

 with a love of travel. Judging by the intensely 

 interesting article which my friend Mr. Douglas 

 Carruthers contributed to the June number of the 

 Geographical Journal (1912) entitled " Exploration 

 in North-west Mongolia and Dzungaria," the book 

 on which he and Mr. Jack Miller are engaged 

 will add to his already great reputation and tear 

 the veil from what is practically a terra incog- 

 nita to the average educated Englishman. 



Leaving Hami on the day following our arrival, 

 we travelled all night and reached Erpu on 

 January 13th. This again is a charming little 

 place with many trees, about which flew jackdaws, 

 crows, and pigeons in great numbers. Our inn- 

 keeper informed us that he had been to England, 

 but on a little cross-examination it transpired that 

 he had not got farther than India. We were 

 often greeted with this tale of wonderful journeys, 

 but " England " usually turned out to be Hong- 

 kong or Shanghai. 



That by which I chiefly remember Erpu was 

 a magnificent wapiti head adorning the mud walls 

 of a little mosque. It was just the sort I had 

 hoped to shoot ! A fifteen-pointer with long, 

 curving brows and fine tops, it must have reached 



