The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-06-13
SAND BURIED TOWN
MARVELLOUS DISCOVERY OF AN AN
GENT CITY IN CENTRAL ASIA.

GENT CITY IN CENTRAL ASIA.
1t is Reached BY Swedish Traveller After
. Most Terrible Journey Across Uu.
known Deserts. and 10 Found to Have
Been In Existence Before the Day of
M.homet-ThriIliug Story of the Pluck
It Takes to Push Your Way Over the
Terrible Wastes Of the Country Of the
Mahatmas of the Orient
the New York Evening Post writes as
follows to that paper: If. few years
ago, I had announced that 1 had re-
ceived from China an account Of jour-
neys and discoveries in Central Asia. by
q traveller from northern Europe, be-
fore he had reached hope or published
more than fragment OF his story,
should have been accused of the widest
romancing. In sober truth. have be-
fore me a letter from Kalgan. China, un-
der date March Is. 1897, by missionary
giving piquant and interesting narra-
tive Of DR.. Hedin's adventures. and some
OF his achievements, written before he
had started on his overland journey
home. which, judge, even with the help
of the new Siberian railroad. cannot yet
be completed. A full report will, OF
course. be published in time, but may be
slow to make itself known In this coun-
'ry. Meantime this very general out
line will, believe, prove a matter ofin-
terest.
Kaigan, II may be well to remind the
reader, is at the great wall, on the border
of Mongolia. 137 miles northwest of Pek-
ing on the great overland route to Rus
sia, II is city of about one hundred
thousand inhabitants, and the center Of
prosperous tea trade.
DR.. Hedin was sent out by the King
of Sweden three and a half years ago.
and. after some years spent in Persia,
he pushed on through Russian Turkes-
tan, crossing the Pamirs. The cold was
intense. In the valley Of Ali snow often
covers the villages, and they open up
communication by making yak go first,
sunneling through the snow, then a
camel. and finally horses. On one oc-
casion he found the snow so deep and
soft that the horses could not move. The
KirghiZ, who had been commanded by
the Russian government to aid him,
took their tent felts and laid them on
the snow. AS the horses passed over
them they were taken UP from behind
and laid aga'n in front. thus forming a
sort Of movable snow-shoe. The way
was probably straight, but certainly mar
row, and IL an animal stepped off the
edge he disappeared, and the men had
10 do little horse mining. The snow
melted at noon and froze at night, maxi
ing it extremely hard for the pack ami
mails. In places they had to cut steps
in the ice for the horses. and one man
went in front and another behind, hold
Ing the tail TO keep the beast from
slipping. No one before Dr. Hedin had
crossed these mountains In winter
He made maps of the country. finding
existing ones very incorrect. He found
lakes that are not shown, but one salt
lake he failed to find At about so de-
grees east. 81 degrees north, there is
lake covered with reeds growing seven
feet above the water The people there
live exclusively on fish, which they kill
with a paddle, drying the flesh for win
ter use.
Between the rivers Dartandaria and
Hotandaria is desert which they had
70 cross. He started with four Turks
and eight camels. They took a supply
OF water. but, upon information that the
desert was not very large. threw some
Of il away. At the end OF four days
the water rgave ont. and one camel died
cash day after that We often hear Of
travellers in an extremity killing a camel
and finding water In his stomach a very
delightful tipple. but our travellers
found It impossible to drink II. One Of
the Turks, however, drank the blood Of
their last sheep, but it made him too Ill
20 go on. Their mouths were so dry
that they couldn't eat their food. DR..
Hedin found much relief in smoking
cigarettes. of which he had ten in his
pocket. and longed for a hundred. Fin
ally two Turks were left dying with the
tents. baggage and some camels. Two
others with the eDoctor and singl
WHITE camel pushed on. BY and by one
silver, instruments, and valuable notes,
with instructions to follow as well as
he could in their footprints. and DR..
Hedin with the other man went ahead.
After awhile they came to thick for
est of poplar trees where they hoped TO
find water, but were too weak 10 dig.
They had attempted wells before. and az
the depth of ten feet found the ground
a little moist. but getting dry again as
they dug further.
Finally the Doctor was left alone. hrs
companion saying he could go no farth-
or The walking was very tiresome
over these endless stretches OF moving
sand BY and by he could walk no
longer. and crawled on his hands and
knees. coming at last 10 q river bed. but
was terribly disappointed 20 find IL dry.
Search. however. discovered some pools
from which our traveller drank great
draughts. the mos: delightful he had ever
tasted. Then he filled his boots and
startcd back for his Turk. but 1t grew
dark and he could not follow his own
tracks II seems that IL was not far.
and he shouted and made a fire 70 let
the man know where he was In the
morning he found him. nearly dead. and
asked him II he wanted water. The man
said no. but the Doctor poured bootful
down his thrna;. and he somewhat re-
vived. We hear no more of him. how
ever. and il appears that he did not Ge:
through DR.. Hedin left him near the
water. and filing his boots again went
on barefoot. the pools being scarce and
uncertain He ate grass-roots. live