Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-02-20

lakes I looked at the clsterns and found
that water for four days only had seer
takenl 1 thought we could reach the
J 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 wa
ter. 1 believed him, and we went on
We found no water, and two days after
our supply was exhausted the camels got
| i'll. We lost three camels before May LIST.
THIRST AND ILLNESS.
ION May LIST the men began to slcken. /
was so thirsty that L drank a glass OF
| the vile Chinese spirit. 1t made me very
| i'll. We only proceeded four kilometres
that day-carly in the morning. My men
were all weeping and clamoring to Allan.
They said they could go no further; they
wanted to die. 1 made them put up the
tent, and then we undressed and lay
! down naked in the tent. During that day
we killed our last sheep and drank It's
blood. We all thought TO die. In the
evening Of May-day we were mad with
raging thirst. When night fell we walked
on. Two OF the men could not move
They were dying; so we had to leave
them. / said to them: Wait little here,
sleep a little, and then follow u.s. 1 had
to abandon much of my luggage-5. 900
kroners' worth-for the camels were too
weak But took my most important in
struments with US, all my Chinese silver
my maps, and my notes. That night an
other camel died. 1 was ahead, carrying
a torch TO lead the way. In the night a
third man gave in and lay down
In the sand and motioned to me 10
lanNa n q n
everything-silver, maps, and note-
books-and took only what could
carry-two chronometres, box or
matches, ten cigarettes. and a compass.
The last of the men followed. We went
east. The man carried d spade and an
IRON pot-the spade was TO dig for water,
the iron pot held clotted blood, foul. and
putrid. Thus we staggered on through
the moving dunes OF SAND till the MORN
ing of the Cd Of May.
When the sun rose we dug out holes
in the sand, which was cold from the
frost Of the night, and undressed and
lay down naked; with our clothes md
the space we made a little tent ahich
gave US just enough shelter for our
heads. We lay there for ten hours. At
nightfall we staggered on again. still
towards the east. We advanced all the
night Of the I'd and the morning Of the
Sd Of May. On this morning, as we
stumbled along, Kasim suddenly grippeo
my shoulder and pointed east. He could
not speak. I could see nothing. At last
he whispered. 'Tamarsk' SO we walked
on, and after awhile l saw a green thing
on the horizon. We reached it at last,
but we could not dig; It was all sand.
yards deep. But we thanked God and
munched the green foliage, and all thut
day we lay naked in its shadow. At
nightfall l dressed and babe Kasim eol-
low. He lay where he was and said not
a word. 1 left him and went east.
went on till l in the morning. Then /
came TO another tamarisk, and as .he
night was bitterly cold / collected the
fallen branches and made a fire. In The
night my companion came up; he had
seen the fire. lie did not speak, l Iid
not speak; we had no interest to talk: it
was impossible to do so, for our mouths
were as dry as our skins. That night We
walked on for several hours, and so on
till the sun grew hot on the 4th Of May |
and we again lay down naked In the |
sand.
HORRIBLE SUFFERINGS.
ION the night Of May Attn we advanced, |
on all tours, and resting every |
"a
felt all along that my life could not be- /
thrown away like that. / came 10 three |
desert poplars on a patch OF soil where |
there was no sand. We tried to dig, but |
we were too weak, and the frozen ground |
was TOO hard; we barely dug TO a depth |
Of inches. Then we fell on our faces and /
,lawed up the earth with our fingers; but |
We could not Gig deep, so we abandoned
he hope Of finding water there, and lit a
ire, in the hope that Islam Bal, the man
who had stayed behind with the camels,
might chance TO see il and follow on. IL
happened so, but only knew it later.
ION the 9TH we went on--east We were
bitterly disappointed, for the poplars had
given us hope, and we had to cross
broad belt of sterile land. At last we saw
| black line on the horizon, very dark
md very thin, and we understood that It
must be the forests OF Khotan-Darya.
We reached the forest by the time the
Jun grew hot; it was very deep and very
lense-a black forest Of very old trees.
We saw the tracks OF Wild beasts. All
hat day we lay naked In the shade OF the [
rees; there was no sign or water any
where. In the evening l dressed and told
<asim to arise He could not move, he
vas going mad; he looked fearful lying
lat on his back, with his arms stretched
|
Mouth. / went on. The forest was very
ense and the night black. l had eaten
Iothing for ten days, i had drank no.
hing for nine; crossed the forest crawl
ng on all fours, tottering from tree 20
rec. carried the haft of the spade as a
rutch.
AT last I came to an open place; the
crest ended like devastated plain. TINS
vas river bed-tho bed OF the Khotan-
)arya. 1t was quite dry; there was NOT "a
rop Of water. understood that this was
he bad season for water. The river BEDS
re dry In the spring. for the snow whien
eeds them has not yet melted on the
fountains. / went on; | meant 20 llvei
would find water. was very weak. put
crawled on all fours. and at last
rossed the river bed: IL was three kiio-
letres wide. Then as I reached the righe
ank OF the river heard the sound or