SKIRTING THE DESERT 
507 
sporadic clumps. We passed two pools of water, like the 
one we left in the morning. All three lay along the same 
line, stretching east-north-east ; in all probability they mark 
the course of a former affluent of the Yarkand-daria. 
We put out further and further into the unknown ocean 
of sandy desert. Not a sign of life to be seen ; not a 
sound to be heard, except the monotonous ding-dong of 
the bells tinkling in time to the soft tramping of the 
camels. Every now and again we made a short halt, 
whenever in fact we were at all uncertain of the course 
we ought to steer — opportunities which the men seized 
upon to eat their simple breakfast, consisting of a few 
handfuls of talkan (toasted flour) steeped in water, which 
they supped out of wooden bowls. The water in the tanks 
became tepid during the course of the day. For my own 
part, I always missed out breakfast, and contented myself 
with two meals a day. 
April 17th. To-day there was a fresh westerly breeze ; 
but the sky remained perfectly clear. On several occasions 
I noticed that the duststorms were only raised by the 
easterly and north-easterly winds ; whilst no matter how 
strongly it blew from the west, the sky always remained 
pure and clear. 
Before we had gone very far we perceived in the north 
a tolerably high mountain, like a cloud or slight thickening 
of the atmosphere fringing the horizon. Hour after hour 
we rode towards it ; but the mountain grew no plainer 
to the eye, nor did we seem to approach any nearer to 
it. The dunes reached sixteen feet in height, and were 
often very difficult to get over. Between them the reed 
steppes became more frequent and the reeds ranker in 
growth. A few hares leapt out from amongst them as 
the caravan drew near. This day too we passed some 
small pools ; but they were surrounded by saline in- 
crustations, and the water in them was brackish. Away 
towards the east-north-east a former river had cut its 
sinuous way through the desert ; the channel, which 
was half choked with sand, and contained only a few 
disconnected pools of water, was forty-five yards wide 
