Washington sentinel., 1898-01-22
TIE mEs SENTINEL
DIR. sven Hsdsn's adventures.

OF the events narrated is in Central
Asia, in the Takla MaIan DESERT
! started from Kashgar on Feb
ruary II, 1895, with four Turkish
servants and eight fine camels. /
wanted to cross from the Yarkand
Darya River to the Khotan Darya
River, over the Takla Makan Des-
ert. wanted to explore this des.
eTt, which nobody had ever done.
There were many legends anent it
among the inhabitants on its con-
fines-stories Of ancient towns
buried in the sand; and / wanted TO
learn ii there was any foundation
for these stories. / entered the
desert on April 10. We had water
for twenty-five days with US, car
ried in iron tanks on the backs Of
the camels. 1t was all sand-mov-
ing dunes OF sand. The days were
very hot, the nights we're bitterly
cold The air was full of dust. We
crossed the first half of the desert
IN thirteen days, and came to a re-
gion where there were some hills
and small fresh water lakes. Here
bade my men fill the cisterns with
fresh water for ten days, We then
proceeded, all going well. On the
second day after we had left the
lakes, looked at the cisterns and
- found that water for four days only
had been taken! l thought we
could reach the Khotan Darya in
six days, one Of my servants told
me that in three days march from
where we were we should find a
place where we could dig for water.
believed him, and we went on.
We found no water, and two
days after our supply was ex-
hausted. The camels got i'll; we
lost three camels before Nav I.
On May the men began to sicken.
was so thirsty that / drank a glass
Of the vile Chinese spirit. 1t made
me very i'll. We only proceeded
\ four kilometres that day-early in
the morning. My men were all
weeping and clamoring to Allah.
A~fhey said they could 60 no farther;
they said they wanted to die. l
made them put up the tent, and
then we all undresSed and lay down
naked in the tent. During that
day we killed our last sheep, and
drank its blood. We all thought
to die. l thought / would do my
best to go as far as possible. That
is the difference between a Euro
pean and an Orien al; a European
thinks that life is not so easily
taken away; an Oriental is a fatal
ist, and will not fight for its pres
ervation. In the evening Of May
Day we were all mad with rag
ing thirst. When night tell we
walked on. Two Of the men could
not move. They were dying. So
we had to leave them. I said to
them, "Wait a little here, sleep a
little, and then follow US"
l had to abandon much Of my
luggage-s,oo 900 kronors worth
for the camels were too weak. But
took my most important instru-
ments with me, all my Chinese sill
yer, Iry maps, and my notes. That
As
ahead, carrying a torch to lead the
way. In the night third man gave
in, and lay down in the sand and
motioned to me to leaYe him to die.
Then / abandoned everything
silver, maps, and note books-and
took only what / could carry: two
chronometers, box Of matches,
ten cigarettes, and compass. The
last Of the men followed. We went
east. The man carried a spade
and an iron pot. The spade was
to dig for water; the iron pot held
clotted blood, foul and putrid,
E we staggered on, through the
moving dunes OF sand, till the
morning of the second Of May.
When the sun rose we dug out
holes in the sand, which was cold
from the frost Of the night. and un-
dressed and lay down naked. With
our clothes and the spade we made
a little tent, which gave US Just
enough shelter for our heads. We
lay there for ten hours. AT night
fall we staggered on again, still
toward the east. We advanced all
the night Of the second, and the
morning Of the third sf May. On
this morning, as we were stumbling
along, Kasim suddenly gripped
my shoulder and pointed east.
He could not speak. l could see
nothing. At last he whispered
"Tamarisk" So we walked on, and
after a while l saw a green thing
on the horizon.
We reached it at last, but we
could not dig. 1t was all sand,
yards deep. But we thanked God,
and munched the green foliage;
and ali that day we lay naked IN
its shadow. AT nightfall / dressed,
and bade KasIm follow. He lay
where he was, and said not word.
l left him and went east. / vent
on till one in the morning. Then
/ came to another tamarisk, and |
as the night was bitterly cold, I |
collected the fallen branches and
made FIRE. In the night my COM
panion came up. He had seen my
FIRE. He did not speak. did not
speak. We had no INTEREST," to talk.
1t was impossible to do so, for our
mouths were as dry as our skins.
That night we walked on for sew
eral hours, and so on till the sun
grew hot on May 4, when we again |
lay down naked on the sand. On
the night Of May we advanced |
crawling on all iours, and resting |