THE DESERT OF TSAIDAM 
of corn for the horses, and bought a young mare to carry 
them. As we had a couple of days of desert travelling 
before us, the grain was a valuable acquisition. There 
we rested a day, and Islam Bai seized the opportunity 
to turn out and take stock of our provision-cases, bringing 
to light a bag of coffee berries, and a bottle of golden 
syrup, which Father Hendricks gave me more than a year 
previously. The coffee was an agreeable change from 
the invariable tea, and the syrup served for dessert after 
dinner. 
On October 23rd the path inclined towards the north- 
east. We were about to cross the central desert region 
of Tsaidani. Vegetation grew thinner and rarer, and 
finally ceased altogether. The ground was bare and 
barren, rough and moist, and frequently showed white 
because of the large impregnation of salt. Once more 
we were ploughing our way through the dreary desert. 
Half-way across we expected to ford the Khara-ussu 
(the Black River). The first of its arms we came to 
was very small, and the thick dirty water crawled over 
the muddy bottom with a scarce perceptible movement. 
Its second arm was dry. Then came the third, so deeply 
sunk in the ground, and so narrow, that we did not see 
it until we were close upon it, in fact only a few horse’s- 
lengths away. The banks were of slippery clay, and 
went steep down to the bottom of the river, so that 
we had to cut a sloping path in each for the horses to 
go up and down. Loppsen, who knew where the ford 
was, rode down first, but the horse had not gone four 
paces before he sank over the pommel of the saddle 
in the soft mud, wetting his rider to the waist. Islam 
tried another place, but with no better fortune. The 
men rode up and down the bank seeking for a more 
suitable crossing, but in both directions the river was 
narrower and deeper, and Loppsen maintained that 
that was the only ford there was across the Khara-ussu. 
He was amazed to find so much water in the river, and 
could only explain it as being due to the unusual warmth 
of the air during the past few days, combined with a 
