632 
THROUGH ASIA 
to superintend the shearing of the sheep, a task which is 
done twice in the year, in spring and autumn. The wool 
sold in Khotan at five tengeh (2^. ^d.) for a chdreck (about 
18 lbs. avoir.). When there is a good clip of wool, it 
takes ten to twelve sheep to give a chareck ; but at that 
season of the year the wool was thin, a good deal having 
been torn off by the thorny bushes of the underwoods, 
so that it would take fifteen to twenty sheep to yield a 
chareck. The bai hoped to shear about thirty chareck 
altogether ; for he had another flock of ^00 sheep some 
distance higher up the river. 
At dusk on the 21st May Islam and the other men 
returned. The report they brought was not very satis- 
factory. They had travelled due west from the edge of 
the forest ; but had not ventured to go as far as the place 
where we left the tent, because the days were getting 
hotter. The only things they brought back with them 
were those which we left behind under the three poplars, 
and which were of relatively little value. They had been 
guided thither by the dead body of the camel Boghra, for 
its pestilential stench was perceptible a long way off. But 
the most remarkable thing of all was, that they did not 
find the camel Nahr, who carried the three aneroids, the 
boiling-point thermometer, the field-glass, two revolvers, 
one of them a weapon of the pattern that is used by the 
officers of the Swedish army, fifty cartridg'es, 200 cigars, 
besides several other things. They easily discovered the 
place where Islam had left the animal ; because he had 
tied his girdle to a tamarisk close by to serve as a sort of 
guide-post. The tamarisk was still there on the top of a 
sand-dune ; but the girdle was gone. Instead of it the 
branches of the tree were tied together with a piece of 
white felt. Round about there were footprints of a man’s 
boots, whereas Islam had been barefooted. The camel 
and his valuable load were gone. And not only could 
they not find the animal, they could not even find a trace 
of him. 
The question was, who was this man who had taken 
away Islam’s girdle and left the felt rag in its place? I 
