Washington sentinel., 1898-01-22

last 4 GdllAC W aAA OgGA EANSNe a AN
forest ended like a devastated
plain. This was a river bed, the
bed ofthe Khotan DarYa. 1t W.
quite dry.
l went on. l meant to live. l
would find water. Twas very weak,
but crawled on all fours, and at
last l crossed the river bed. 1t
was three kilometres wide. Then,
as reached the right bank of the
river, l heard the sound of duck
lifting and the noise Of splashing
water. l crawled in that direction,
and found a large pool Of clear fresh
water. 1 thanked God first, and
.hen l felt my pulse. l wanted to
see the effect that drinking would
have on it. 1t was at torty-eight.
Then l drank. l drank feariully.
l had little tin with me. 1t had
contained chocolates, but | had
thrown these away as could swal-
low nothing. The tin had kept.
l had felt sure, all the time, that |
should find water, and that l should
use that tin as a drinking cup !
drank and drank. 1t was a most
lovely feeling. l felt my blood
liquefying 1t began to run in my
veins; my pores opened. My pulse
went up at once to hfty-three. l
ielt quite fresh and living.
Then | remembered Kasim. So
l took off my Swedish boots and
filled them with water, and hooked
them by the tags over the ends Of
my spade hiatt, and retraced my
steps. l could walk now. But it
was so dark when l reached the
forest that l could not find the
track. / shouted "Kaziml KAHN"
but he did not answer, and /
thought he was dead. Then made
a fire in the forest-for fear OF
tigers--a huge fire, splendid il
Elimination, lighting up the mys-
teTious darknesses OF these prime
val forests. Ii gave me very great
pleasure to see this fire. At sun
rise l searched for KAHN and
found him. l called him.
He lifted his head a little.
"Water" | cried. He shook his
head. al want to die" | shook
the boots near his head so that the
water splashed. Then he rose like
a wild beast, and flung himself on
the water vessels and drained them
one after another to the last drop.
Then he fell back and would not
move, though l asked him to come
with me to the pool and bathe. So
l left him and went on took
bath, and then made for the south,
down the river bed.
/ walked on for three days, and
did not see living soul all the
time, and lived on grass and leaves,
and tadpoles when I could catch
them. On the fourth day ! fell in
with some shepherds with great
focks. They had never seen a
European before. They were very
frightened at my appearance, es-
pecially at my black spectacles.
and they fed to the forest. called
to them in their own language.
Then they came out and asked me
what / wanted. They were good
to me and gave me some milk and
bread. l stopped some days with
them, ano heard from two mer
chants who arrived that at two
days ride from there they had seen
a man and a white camel lying in
the river bed. They had spoken
to him, but he had cried only,
"Waterl water" They had given
him drink and food. Recognized
that this was Islam Bal. / sent a
shepherd to fetch him, and in a few
days Islam arrived with KAHN and
the camel. He had saved all my
money. some instruments, and my
maps and notes / felt quite rich"
Having recovered his strength,
DR.. Hedin set out once more into
the desert, and after a seven days
march came upon the ruins OF one
Of the old Buddhist towns, and
week later upon the ruins OF an
other: II consider this one Of the
most interesting discoveries ever
made. 1t was certainly the most
curious thing that occurred to me
during my four years journey. No
traveller ever expected to find any
thing here. and it was given to me
to discover the traces Of Buddhist
in a Mahomedan land
towns where, from appearances.
the civilization must have been
very far advanced.