6r2 THROUGH ASIA 
we could no longer retrace our footsteps throug-h the 
sand. 
Then I thought of another thing. There was not a 
single trace of human beings in that immediate locality, 
not a sign of anybody having passed that way at all 
recently. Perhaps nobody travelled that way during the 
hot season ? If I waited there for help, I might per- 
chance die of hunger before help came. My last ex- 
amination of Przhevalsky s map seemed to show that we 
should strike the river in the district called Buksem, 
about 25 Swedish, or 150 English, miles from the town 
of Khotan. If I went well, I ought to travel that 
distance in six days. 
To decide was to act. At half-past four off I started. 
I followed the middle of the river-bed in as straight a 
line as I could ; and as a consequence of the almost dead 
level, the channel was pretty nearly straight, and varied 
from half a mile to two miles in width. I took the pre- 
caution to fill my boots with water ; but at the end of some 
hours my feet were so sore and blistered, that I was 
obliged to try and protect them by doubling my socks 
over them and by bandaging them in strips of my shirt. 
After a while I came upon another small pool, con- 
taining fresh water. I emptied my boots of the brackish 
water I was carrying, and filled them with the sweet. 
After that I followed the left bank of the stream, and 
there to my great joy discovered a sheepfold constructed 
of branches of trees. But upon examining It, I saw it 
was a long time since it had been used. In the river-bed 
close beside it I perceived signs of a well having been 
dug. 
Weariness and the heat of the day combined drove 
me, about half-past eleven, into the shelter of the forest. 
There I halted, gathered young reed-shoots and grass, 
cut them up fine, and mixed them with water in the 
chocolate tin. That was my breakfast. 
After noon I went on again hour after hour, until I 
really could go no longer. It was eight o’clock when 
I stopped, and made my fire, and “camped.” 
