Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-30

with the eye because of the tall plumed
grasses which grow on either side Of
them five and six feet high, like the
pampas grass that We have in our gar
dens
This plateau presents the same phe-
ncmenon that is found upon a similar
waste near Areouipa, Peru-masses Of
drifting sand, which move hither and
thither according to the direction of the
wind. but always lie in crescent-shaped
mounds from five to fifteen feet high and
from twenty to fifty feet across between
the points The sand is. very fine. You
can blow up cloud of it with your
breath. and it obeys the slightest mo-
ton of the air. but. strangely enough,
whenever it changes it's position, as 1t
does with the shifting of the wind, it al
ways assumes the form of a crescent, in
perfect proportions. and the natives have
notion that the same grains stay to-
gether like family or the members of a
clan and never stray from one mound to
another. or course this is impossible to
determine. but it is pretty fancy.
As Seen by Ancient Observers.
In 1904 an illustrious hidalgo crossed
these deserts with a camel caravan as
an ambassador from the King of Spain
to the court of Tamerlane, then at the
zenith Of his power and glory. and he
wrote book, entitled Narrative Of the
Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez dc Clavijo to
the Court of Timour at Samarcand,"
which has been translated by Clements
r. Markham for the Hakluyt Society of
London and contains a great deal of in
teresting description Of central Asia and
its people 500 years ago. Referring to
this sand, he says:
ION the banks there were great plains
one spot to the other by wind and was
thrown up In curious semi-crcular
mounds, and the wind blew the sand from
one mound to another. for it was very
light and on the ground where the wind
had blown away the sand the marks of
the mounds were left
And in a description of the country by
Quintus Curtius, the Roman historian and
essayist, translated into English in 1885,
the same phenomenon is described The
writer adds that people travel across
these plains at night ITO observe the
starres as thei do that sayle the seas. and
by the course of them directe their jour-
ney. wherefor in the daye time the coun-
trey is wild and unpassable, when they
can finde no track nor waye to go in, nor
marke or signe whereby to passe.'
In the construction of the railway the
engineers had great difficulty with this
sand, and even now, in the winter months
gangs of men are kept moving up and
down the line with shovels to dig out the
track where crescent mounds have formed
upon the right of way. The same trou-
X. N
along the Columbia river in Oregon.
Boundary Marked by the Oxus.
The oxus river. or the ANU Daria, as it
is called in modern times. is the bound
airy between the Russian province of
Transcaspia and the semi-independent
state Of Bokhara, of which / shall have
much to say hereafter. West of it the in
habitants are called Mervi, for they be-
lonsed to the former khanate of Merv.
The people of Bokhara are called Usbegs
and Bokharoits. The people of Samark-
and are called Sarts. Their language and
that of their next-door neighbours. the Us
begs, are distinct dialects, although SINH
lar in many respects, like Portuguese and
Spanish They can understand each 9TH
er, but not accurately.
the Aral sea, is occupied by the Kirghiz,
also known as KAYAKS. a nomadic tribe.
The KirghiZ speak language which is
considered the purest of all the Tartar
tain many foreign admixtures. The tribe
was formerly divided into 1.-The Great
Horde" who occupy the eastern part of
the desert, the Middle Horde" In the
central part, and the Lesser Horde" to
the west and north-all of them under
their independent chiefs. but subject to
central khan who reigned in Khiva
until they became subject to the Russians
in 1924. The establishment of Russian
forts and garrisons in Turkestan in 1856
brought the kirghiz Immediately under
Russian rule. although the Khan of khiva
considered himself an Independent au-
thority, until khiva was finally conquered
In 1872 as narrated in yesterdays letter,
when the pretense was abandoned.
Rich in Flocks and Herds.
The fiocks and herds Of the Kirxhiz
form their only. wealth.. and are the