The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-31
PERILS OF THE DESERT
Fate of Party That Undertook to
Survey the Desert of Seistan.
(London Times.

| Oondon Times)
The Seistan boundary commission,
which has now returned to India. was
one Of those hazardous enterprises that
the survey officers of the government
of India are every now and then called
upon to undertake in remote, unfre-
quented and inhospitable regions, to
penetrate into which, even with such
supplies and escort as are feasible, is
practically to carry ones life in ones
hand.
For many months the heat in Seis-
tan is overpowering, while a wind
known as the "120 days wind" blows
from the northwest with the force of
hurricane. its pace varying up TO sew
enty miles an hour In the winter there
| are violent snoWstorms and billiards.
while the thermometer falls almost to
zero. In a great blizzard which ragged
for five days in March, 1908, during
| the progress of the mission, the wind
actually rose to 120 miles an hour.
One conspicuous piece OF devotion on
the part of native surveyor, named
Mohtud-din deserves mention. He
was man of some distinction who
had won the title of Khan Bahadur by
previous notable surveys on the from
ties While in Seistan he was particu-
larly DESTROYS Of exploring the Dasht-i-
Margu, a very forbidding desert be-
tween the Helmund and Kash rivers,
and in June, 1903, in spite of the ex-
IRENE heat, he struck out from a point
west Of Rudbar on the Helmund, on
a course nearly due north, his party
| consisting Of four survey assistants,
four Afghan guides and two camel
men.
| They marched all night, called a halt
in the early morning and continued the
march during the day. At nightfall
the water carried by the camels had
given out, and the guides urged that
either the return Journey should be be-
gun at once or a route taken due west,
so as to strike the northern bend of
the Helmund. Mohi-ud-din, however,
was determined TO pus-- on and a guide
was sent Oft on camel to find water.
He returned with a leather skin full,
but il was so brackish that those who
drank II fell i'll and could not eat their
| food. The party had then to march on,
| and they were fortunate enough to
reach another we'll where a small sup
| ply Of drinkable water was obtained.
At midnight on the fourteenth they
started again still steering northward.
| and at daybreak they halted on a high
desert plain There was no sign of
water. and. the position being critical,
Mohi-ud-din reluctantly recognized the
futility of further exploration He
agreed to return, but by night, after
great sufferings from thirst, two of the
guides became insenstble. A third
| guide, Sultan Mahomed, tied each of
them upon a riding camel and himself
on a third camel. The animals were
then linked together and left TO go
whittier their instinct would lead them.
Sultan Mahomed fell unconscious dur
ing the night and remembered nothing
till he came to through water being
poured down his throat. He and his
friends had been rescued by a hunter
who had wandered into the desert in
quest of wild asses. The party were
within an ace of death, but were taken
to Chakansur, an Afghan village on the
Kash river, and under careful treat
| ment recovered.
The rest of the party under Mohi-
ud-din met with a melancholy fate.
fThey were too weak TO march, and the
first to die was a camel man, who wan
fdered into the desert and never return
| ed. The others remained all night with
Mohi-up- din, and In the early morn
ing. seeing he was nearly dying, they
| crawled to a raVfne close by and dug
for water. No spring was found AMI
their only relief was to throw the damp
earth over their bodies. In the even
| ing some of these men succeeded in
struggling back to camp, where they
found Mohi-ud-din dead alongside of
| his horse.
His faithful attendant. strong in his
sense Of duty cut the map off the
surveyors plane table and wrapped 1t
round his body in hie waistband. He
afterward explained that he was afraid
| to carry 1t in his hand, for fear he
might become insensible and lose 1t.
They then wandered from the camp
and finally all but Saidu lay down In
the shade of high mound TO die.
Saidu struggled on the whole day, but
must have become delirious, for he re-
membered nothing till he regained con
seriousness for a time by stumbling into
a pool of water. On coming to again
he found himself being carried on
| mans back to Chakangur. He had
been discovered by some villagers, and.
as in the case of the three guides, his
life was saved with difficulty.
The Afghan authorities sent out
search parties with water, and eventu-
ally recovered the bodies of Mohf-ud
| din and the three sub-surveyors, to-
gether with the camp kit. The bodies
were reverently inferred by the At
ghans at the shrine of Amiran a place
| OF peculiar sanctity as Amiran is said
to have been first cousin of the pro-
phet. Mohi-nd-din's death, although
on perhaps by too venturesome dis
regard OF danger was a conspicuous
instance of the devotion met with in
the native ranks of the Indian survey
department, and 1t is gratifying to
learn that fitting reward has been
accorded to the faithful Saidu.