636 
THROUGH ASIA 
At half-past seven we were all ready to start from the 
camp where I had spent such a long time, although a 
time rich in pleasant memories. Indeed, my thoughts 
often fly back, and with both gratitude and sadness com- 
mingled, to the happy days I spent beside the Khotan- 
daria. It was there I got a new lease of life ; it was 
there I shook off my feet the sand of that awful desert ; it 
was there I once more saw human beings like-fashioned 
unto myself, men who received me with kindness, fed me, 
tended me. Finally, it was there I enjoyed a beneficial 
and much-needed rest in the delightfully cool air of the 
forest. I gave each of my shepherd friends thirty tengeh 
(13^. gd.), and they were overjoyed. Then we went on 
our way, with the two camels and the three horses ; and 
the last of the camels’ bells once more echoed clear and 
sonorous, no longer sounding for a funeral, but ringing in 
a new life, with new hopes. 
