SKIRTING THE DESERT 
503 
During the course of the day we came across the 
track of herds of antelopes going towards the south-east. 
Yollchi told us, there was a large lake in that direction 
called Yeshil-kul {the Green Lake). But neither he nor 
any other person known to him had ever seen it, he had 
only heard speak of it ; so that the information must be 
accepted for what it is worth. He added, that it was 
fed by natural springs, for no stream ran into it. It is 
however remarkable, that the older maps show a lake 
of that name ; but it is given a different situation, namely 
south-south-west from our camp No. III. 
April 13th. By the morning there were seven inches 
of water in the bottom of the well. All day long, during 
a march of 1 2 J miles, we travelled continuously amongst 
the sand-dunes. They were all crescent - shaped, with 
their convex side towards the east, and the horns or wings 
and the steeper face looking towards the west or south- 
west ; proving that at that season of the year the prevailing 
winds blew from the east and north-east. 
Poplar trees were common everywhere throughout the 
day’s march. On some of them the leaf-buds were already 
beginning to burst ; and the fresh green tufts made the 
camels’ mouths water. In most cases the dunes seemed 
to shun the poplars, but formed a circular wall round them, 
leaving the trees in the middle of the hollow. There too, 
findino" shelter from the wind, dried branches and withered 
leaves lay in little heaps. 
It was a warm day. The dogs hunted vainly for water, 
eagerly running towards every little depression which 
looked at all like the places in which we dug our desert 
wells. For lack of better protection from the sun, they lay 
down in the shade of every poplar we passed, having first 
scratched away the top layer of hot sand, till they came to 
the stratum that still retained some of the coolness of the 
night. 
Islam Bai rode on the first camel, which was also led by 
Yollchi, our guide. But as Islam commanded the better 
view, he often corrected Yollchi, and suggested taking other 
directions. That gave umbrage to the ill-natured “ Desert 
