Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-18
MIGHT OF THE SAND
Terrors of a Desert Storm in Central
Asia.
EXPERIENCE OF A RECENT TRAVELLER
Thirst Adds to the Suffering From
the Singing Blasts.
OCEAN OF YELLOW SAND

Sir Clements Markham presided over
largely ATTENDED meeting of the Royal Geo
graphical Society held ON Monday in the
theater of the University of London A
paper read by DIR. Sven Hedin on
-Four Years in Central Asia" The follow
ing Is the lecturers account of a storm IN
the Takla-MEkan desert on the way to
Thibet:
Is!am-beg went ahead, compass in hand.
and had orders TO keep watch to the east,
where Khotan-Darya should be at the near
est They went in crooks and curves to
avoid the NEST difficult sand passes. The
desert was Ike a coaguIated ocean with
giant waves. Every morning the same
dreary landscape presented itself to their
View. 1t was devoid of every trace of life;
not even a fly was heard humming In the
air. ami faded, wind-driven leaf broke
the desc lation. On April 20 the two first
camels were left behind and with them
their empty cisterns. BY observing great
economy the water supply might still last
for two days. and they hoped at any mo-
ment TO see the sand decrease and to find
Wells But this was a treacherOuS hope.
and could they have ima gined what was
to happen it would have been a thousand
tunes better to return to the small lakes.
Digging for Water.
The same evening they found plane
spot of dry clay soil between two Dunes
and here. with desperate exertions, they
dug 4 we'll The men stripped and dug by
turns. At depth of three feet the sand
got wet and their disposition gay in conse-
quence- All the animals, even the hens
waited impatiently round the well, which
sank deeper and deeper and had to be lit
up At ire depth of ten feet the sand
again became dry, and The hope was aban-
doned amidst general gloom. The cameIs
saddles, which Were stuffed with hay and
straw
On the 27;h they saw two geese making to
northwest. and this excited their hopes. He
now always Travelled on foot, in order to
keep us straight as possible to the east.
The sand did not cease: wherever he looked
there We're only whole crests of chains of
dunes in which they sank. and felt if
being sucked down. They economical the
water to the very utmost, and the animals
did not get Il single drop more. But in the
evening thick rain clouds began rising
above the western horizon; the tent canvas
WAS at once turned out, and all of them
kept prepared to stick each one to his cor
ner of the canvas in order to gather the
water eagerly expected. But, alas! even
that hope was reacherous; the clouds went
to southeast and did not touch them. Dur
Ing their march they were enveloped IN
such dense sand clouds that 1t darkened
like twilight. They had to keep together in
a dense cluster. as the track got at once
obliterated, and had one Of them missed
the others he would nave Deen 1rrelTleN-
ably lost. They saw nothing but the near
est camel through that darkness; they
heard no shouts only strong whistlinS.
rustling noise pierced their ears when mill
lizards of sand-grains rushed about Per-
haps it was those strange noises that
tempted the fancy of Marco Polo to think
of drums ard squadrons of cavalry, of
which he spoke in his accounts of the hor-
rOrs of the Cobb desert.
Extreme Thirst.
A third camel got behind on dune, and
was Immediately and forever lost from
their view. In the evening all provisions.
clothes and boxes. etc. that could possibly
be spared were picked out. On the 10Th
they had still three and a half pints of
water. but 1t was stolen the following
morning. The camels were fed for the last
time: they were given the whole remnant
of butter Now it drew speedily to close.
On May I they suffered terribly from
thirst. the men drank the stale sesame of
oils Of the camel, and he himself a glass
of Chinese brandy. which otherwise was
used for their cooking apparatus. This
raralyzed his strength: he crawled along
far behind the caravan in glowing SUNSHINE.
The ring from the bells died away he fol-
lowed the track of the others. and when
he at last reached them he found the men
were lying headlong on the ground; two of
them went and invoked Allah. Even the
camels had. deadly tired. lain down with
their heads stretched out. They had
scarcely strength enough to fix up the tent:
they undressed. crept In beneath the shade.
and lay there the whole day. Not single
sound was heard only the heavy breathing
of the camels intern pied the silence.
Muhamed Shah was delirious the same
evening. ard they never heard of him and
the desert man again.
At sunset he felt completely restored. and
with Islam, Kasim and the five camels. he
quilted the horrid camp. where everything
was left in the tent except notes. inStru-
rents. money and some other necessaries.
Tn arfa tn hi b.a 40
of the remaining camels. but it soon
grew pitch dark and they could not see
how they vent so repeatedly were they
stopped by the crestS of the dunes. He,
therefore lit a lamp and went on foot to
find out the best passage AT midnight
they had only advanced two and a half
miles. one of the remaining camels had
been abandoned. and Islam was all but
done up
Last Effort.
Now that he the end coming near, he
q, termined 10 leave everything. took Kasim
with him, and FASTENED in easterly direc-
ton. having encouraged Islam and advised
him to follow their tracks as soon as he
could In complete darkness they thus
separated from the last wreckage of their
caravan. the lamp was left burning at
1slam's side. but its dull light was soon
obscured by the dunes crests.
Kasim carried n spade for digging wells
the fatty tail of n sheep and bit of CO.
agulated blood. THESE miserable provisions
were. however. of very little use to them
for IL the desert the throat and all its
mucous membranes soon got dry like the
external skin. and 1t became impossible to
swallow. BESIDES. the sensation of hunger
disappeared entirely by the side of thirst.
They marched the whole night. but with
3nnumerabie stops. At IL o'clock on May .
81 already hot that everything
turned black before their eyes, and they
had TO lie down and stop the whole day.
They stripped themselves quite naked dug
down in the cold sand and in IL bedded
themselves and put the spade with the
clothes to shade their heads After a short
rest they crawled again further through
this ocean of fine yellow sand. which ap-
pearei TO Them endless Suddenly Kasim
stopped short. on the morning of May 3,
and pulled DIR. Hedins shoulder. He point
ed. staring toward the east. DR.. Hedin
looked and looked. but could not discover
anything unusual But Kasim with the
eyes Of a hawk, had seen the verdure Of
a tanarisk upon which their hope for sal
walton nov became concentrated: its roots
ought TO reach far TO the ground
water. When they at last reached the tree
the first thing they did was to thank God
They TcDosed a little while chewing like