5^4 
THROUGH ASIA 
to perspire, or when your perspiration becomes imper- 
ceptible in consequence of the blood flowing continually 
thicker and slower through your veins, a rapidly increas- 
ing weakness takes possession of you, and quickly brings 
matters to a crisis. 
It was exactly midnight when we abandoned the 
wreckage of our caravan, which only a few days before 
had made such a brave show. We were literally ship- 
wrecked, and had to leave behind us our “ships of the 
desert,” a prey to the merciless ocean of sand. We set 
out to seek the “ coast ; but knew not how far we should 
have to travel over those rolling billows of sand before we 
reached it. 
I he four camels that now remained lav silent, resigned, 
patient^ as sacrificial lambs. They breathed heavily and 
with difficulty, and their long necks were stretched out 
flat on the surface of the dune. Islam Bai did not glance 
up when we left him ; but Yolldash sent a wondering look 
after us. No doubt he believed, that we should soon 
come back again, perhaps with water; for the cara\'an 
was staying behind, and we never left it very far. I 
never saw the faithful creature again, and I missed him 
greatly. 
I placed the lighted lantern close beside Islam, and 
left it there, kor a little while it served us as a sort 
of lighthouse, telling us how far w’e were advancing' 
away from it, and also guiding us in our course tow'ards 
the east. But its pale rays speedily became lost behind 
the sand-dunes, and we were sw'allowed up in the night. 
