512 
THROUGH ASIA 
altered our course towards the north-east. We pitched 
our camp on the shore of the lake under the shade of 
some leafy poplars. The mountain appeared to stand 
quite alone, unconnected with any other and without con- 
tinuation in any direction. 
Our second sheep was killed, and the dogs, which 
for several days had been without meat, being fed on 
bread alone, were given a good meal. A hawk began 
to hover above the poultry, but was frightened off by a 
rifle-shot, which missed it. 
April 20th. Our camp was so pleasantly situated that 
we could not resist the temptation to indulge ourselves 
with another day’s rest. It turned out a broiling hot day, 
despite a fresh breeze from the north-east all night and all 
the morning. The radiation rose to I46°3 Fahr. (63°5 C.), 
and at two o’clock in the afternoon the sand was heated 
to i 26°9 Fahr. (52°7 C.). We had an incessant craving for 
drink, and flew to water at least every half-hour. We 
had hard work to keep the water in the iron tanks even 
tolerably cool ; but we did what we could by wrapping a 
damp cloth round them, and hanging them on a bough 
in the shade, where they could catch the breeze. 
Islam Bai went out in quest of wild-geese. He shot 
a couple ; but they fell into the lake and he was unable 
to get them. The other men spent the day sleeping. 
For my own part, I walked to the top of the nearest 
hill, and discovered a vein of porphyry piercing the 
same species of rocks that I had observed in the 
mountain system of the Masar-alldi. I had a magnificent 
view. In the west-south-west the two limpid sheets of 
water which we had passed the day before reflected 
their environing mountains, with their sand-coated sides, 
as in a mirror. Mount Masar-alldi lay north-west of us ; 
and between it and our camp, and stretching round to 
the north-east, was a steppe of moist, luxuriant grass, 
thickly studded with glittering pools and marshes. In 
the east too I saw a mountain crest, and in the south 
a maze of small weathered peaks belonging to the same 
system which overhung our camp. The poplar groves 
