CHAPTER XLI. 
AN EARTHLY PARADISE 
APRIL i8th. The new day dawned with a fresh 
i\. nor’-easter blowing. The tent threatened to go 
over, although we had anchored it during the night. The 
sky preserved its uniform grey tint, and the midday heat 
remained absent. We decided to march straight for the 
highest point of the mountains ahead, being persuaded we 
could reach it before evening. But it was not to be : we 
lost our way in the poplar wood, and the mountains dis- 
appeared from view in the dust-laden atmosphere. 
The sand-dunes were all round us, branching away 
irregularly in every direction, and growing all over them 
was a large forest of poplars. The ground was littered 
with heaps of withered leaves, dried tree-trunks, branches, 
and sticks. Of the desert there was not a trace. In and 
out amongst the trees we wound a hundred, a thousand 
times j and it was as much as I could do to see for the 
branches I was riding under. W^ e came to an extensive 
marsh, around which the poplars were already wearing 
their full mantles of spring-time greenery. To our amaze- 
ment we perceived traces of human beings and of horses, 
as well as ashes and charred wood, showing that a fire 
had been lighted. It was clear, we had reached the 
districts to which the Dolons are accustomed to drive 
their flocks to graze in the spring, and from which the 
inhabitants of Maral-bashi fetch their fuel. 
Our path was soon stopped by several long narrow 
creeks running out from the marsh. But we were obliged 
to cross them ; so one of the men went into them bare- 
footed and sounded their depth. The bottom consisted 
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