488 
THROUGH ASIA 
him, I thought we had lighted upon a treasure-trove, 
for he was the only man in the place who knew anything 
of the desert. 
Our menagerie of live-stock also embraced three sheep, 
which we intended to kill one after the other, half a score 
hens and a cock, which woke us up in the morning. 
These last travelled in a basket perched on the top of a 
camel’s-load of baggage. The first few days the hens 
laid two or three eg-o-s ; but as soon as the water began 
to fail, they stopped laying. The cock was an eccentric 
animal ; he entertained a rooted objection to riding on a 
camel’s back. Every now and again he used to wriggle 
through the covering of the basket ; and, after balancing 
himself awhile on his elevated perch, flew down to the 
ground with a noisy cackle. Every time we pitched 
camp, the poultry were let out for a run. They im- 
parted a little life to the otherwise de.solate surroundings ; 
and a few handfuls of corn were thrown down amongst 
the sand, to keep them employed and in motion. 
On April 9th we made our final preparations ; we 
packed the two or three bags of bread which had been 
ordered beforehand, and filled the four iron tanks with 
fresh water from the river. They held ly^-, 19, 19, and 
27 gallons respectively ; add to this 17^^ gallons in a goat- 
skin, and we get a total of 100 gallons, amply sufficient 
for a 25 days’ march. The tanks, which were oblong in 
shape, were specially made for conveying honey from 
India to Yarkand, being surrounded by a wooden grating 
to protect the thin iron plates against damage from knocks. 
Grass and reeds were packed in between the tank and the 
grating, to prevent the sun’s rays from beating directly 
upon the iron. 
A few words about the plan of my journey. Przhe- 
valsky, and Carey and Dalgleish, w'ere the first Europeans 
who ever saw {1885) the mountains of Masar-tagh on the 
left bank of the Khotan-daria. The first- mentioned wrote 
in this connection : “After three short day’s-marches (from 
Tavek-kel) we arrived at that part of the Khotan-daria 
where the Masar-tagh chain overlooks its left bank. The 
