THE FORESTS OF THE TARIM 845 
impregnations. All the same it required an effort of will 
to get a few mouthfuls down, even in the form of tea. 
February 20th. The fox did not mislead us more than 
one day. Before the morning was over, the dunes had 
sunk first to 16 feet, then to 6 or 7 feet, in height, 
whilst at the same time they were less closely packed 
together, and at length occurred only intermittently. 
Tamarisks and poplars began to appear singly and in 
scattered clumps ; and at last we saw in the far - off 
distance the thin dark line of the forests of the Tarim. 
What a glorious sight ! All danger was now over. Then 
the usual indications began to show themselves — chiggek 
(rushes), the spoor of wild-boar, the track of a horseman, 
presumably a hunter who had recently crossed our line of 
march, then the footprints of a barefooted man, in all 
probability a shepherd. But the most remarkable of all 
the signs we observed were the fresh prints of the wild 
camels’ cushioned feet. Perhaps however the wild camel 
haunts the narrow strip of country south of the 1 arini ? I 
do not know. 
The ground was now level and open, and vegetation 
became more plentiful, whilst at the same time the sand- 
dunes gradually decreased in number. We crossed over 
a dry river-bed, which went from the west to the east, 
no doubt a side-arm of the Tarim when the river is in 
flood. There was still a small frozen pool in the bottom, 
and down to it ran a recently trampled path. We ought 
to have encamped there ; but we did not. We pushed on 
further, for we were under the impression that another 
hour, or at the most two, would bring us to the river. 
The forest grew thicker, but was varied at intervals by 
open glades. One thing astonished us greatly : all the 
tracks of wild animals went east and west, and so too 
did a furrowed road made by the wheels of an arba (cart). 
Hour after hour we kept plodding on towards the north. 
But silence reigned supreme ; there was not a token of 
life. It grew dusk ; we still kept toiling on. It grew 
dark. We searched in vain for the river ; and at last, 
at a late hour of the night, we fairly stuck fast in a 
