474 
THROUGH ASIA 
the place unless God wills he should. I heard also that 
twelve men were just about to set out from Yarkand into 
the desert in quest of gold. They generally choose the 
spring for these expeditions, as they say that the sand- 
storms are then more likely to expose the gold. A month 
previously a man had gone into the desert, and had not 
returned. At Yarkand the people believe, that the 
traveller through the desert often hears voices callingf 
him by name, but that if he follows them, he goes astray 
and dies of thirst. It is interesting to compare this 
with what Marco Polo has to say of the great Lop 
desert : “ But there is a marvellous thing related of this 
desert, which is, that when travellers are on the move by 
night, and one of them chances to lag behind, or to fall 
asleep, or the like, when he tries to gain his company 
again, he will hear spirits talking, and will suppose them 
to be his comrades. Sometimes the spirits will call him by 
name, and thus shall a traveller ofttimes be led astray, so 
that he never finds his party. And in this way many have 
perished.”* 
To-dav Islam Bai returned from Yarkand, bringing with 
him four chelleks (iron tanks) for water, six tulums (goat- 
skins for water), sesame oil and seed-husks for the 
camels, petroleum, bread, talkan (toasted flour), gaumafi 
(macaroni), honey, sacks, spades, whips, bridle-bits, bowls, 
cups, and divers other requisites. 
March i8th. During these days I had frequent oppor- 
tunity of observing how closely the radiation was 
dependent upon the amount of dust with which the 
atmosphere was charged. When the atmosphere was 
nearly clear, the radiation went up ii4°8 Fahr. (46° C.) ; 
but after a violent buran it sank to 69°! Fahr. (20°6 C.). 
This was on March i6th; after that the air gradually 
cleared, so that the radiation on March 17th went up to 
8 i° 7 P'ahr. (27°6 C.), and the following day it was 97°9 
Fahr. (36°6 C.) Concurrently with this the minimum 
temperature during the night sank after the buran had 
ceased, whilst the atmosphere gradually cleared. For 
* From Yule's The Book of Ser Marco Polo, I. p. 203 (1874). 
