Evening star., 1925-10-25

perceptlDIe. ana gong was extremely
( hard. Floods had washed great
! trenches across our path and in many
cases the whole track was washed
away for hundreds of yards on end.
and we could average only about
! seven miles an hour. In one place we
| found an exception. and this was on
the dry salt bed Of what was once a
huge lake. As We approached, it ap-
peared to be a huge sheet of water
but later 1t resolved itself into a large
| bed of salt.
| 1t is impossible In the wet season
and is nothing but a morass. but in
| the Spring the camels make d
straight track across 1t which gets as
hard as iron, and which is perfectly
| smooth. Later, as the season gets
warmer, the whole lake. with the ex
ception OF the track, bubbles up and
leaves waves of dry salt which have
| the same formation (but on a much
larger scale) AS a sandy beach wher
| the tide recedes
Across this track we had sever
miles of perfect going without q
bump. and for the first time for three
months Felix had brief spell of owe,
40 miles an hour, but the frightfu
glare from the white salt surface was
most trying and we were glad to ex.
| lasting twist and bump. For -four
more days we struggled in a most
uncharftable country where to rur
a couple OF miles without gettins
| stuck or having TO dig or clear the
track was impossible
From here we We're continually III
sand and salt in almost waterles.
country, and one night in the towr
OF BAN we bade farewell to prac-
lcally the last vegetation We should
see for $50 miles. After two hours
running from here we got onto sand
ana TO the end of our Journey sanC
was our trouble and continual bug.
bear, and / do not think I want TO see
II again. even in an egg boiler.
| Al ShurgaZ we We're met by .,
coolies. who had walked 80 miles I,
push us across a patch OF three mile.
OF silver sand hills. That took u!
three hours, and after leaving then
we must have stuck a hundred time.
day. Redknap and Hussein worked
like beavers, and on our second day
out or BAN we ran for 12 hours. dur
Ing which we made only 50 miles, anC
nnlshed up absolutely played out.
| We camped in a valley which I car
only liken to the Valley Of Despon,
mentioned in Pilgrims Progress. I
contained no life OF any kind, ant
even the usual crowd of insect pest,
| that kept us company at our eveninl
meal We're missing. Next day W,
stopped at Dehan-i-bagh at the hous,
or the loneliest Englishman I hav.
ever met, a Mr.. John May Of the In
dian telegraph department.
| He Is superintendent of over ,O0i
miles OF the line that runs from Indif
to London. is responsible for its main
| tenance. and lives under a stronl
guard Of Baluchi levies. His neares
white neighbor is 90 miles away. ant
his spell of duty lasts for two years
but he Is one Of the type Of stout
| hearted pioneers who have made Eng
land what she is.
| He had made gardening n hobby
and had carried q good water suppl,
from far away in the hills by mean
Of small water channel to n piece O
reclaimed desert, where he had a fin
show Of flowers, fruit and vegetables
and that with photography kept hin
fully employed. We left the mex
morning and picked up our petrc
dump in mid-desert, which had beel
made by horse transport.
| A MOTHER day OF perpetual sand an
we arrived at DuZdab on the PEI
sian-Baluchistan frontier, ewhere tn
Indian Northwestern Railway has it
terminus. Here even the we'll sea
soned Hussein fell Ill and we had t
send him on by train to Quetta an
as substitute we engaged Pathal
servant, an ex-soldier, who proved
sterling good fellow.
| Seven years ago the village of Du2
| dab. Persia, did not exist, but the rail
way was brought here during the day
Of the war as a means of keeping tn
British forces in East Persia supplied
1t now contains a branch Of the bank
and is a distributing and loading cen
ter for caravans, which move fror
here to all parts OF Persia an
| Afgha nistan.
From Duzdab, Afghanistan is seve
miles away, and India is a simila
distance away, and we stayed here 70
48 hours to prepare for our last 60
miles. No animal or yehicular traffi
had passed over the trade route 10
over seven years, and the state OF
was very doubtful. Information wa
very hard to obtain, but an India
merchant, who was formerly a SUI
iveyor on the railway, gave us hop
that it would not prove too difficult
: Nevertheless, we were very dubious.
For the first 80 miles to Mirjawt
during which we ran south and pal
allel to the Indian border, there wa
certainly a visible track and this w
managed to cover in six hours. Their
the railway people put us on tracl
which was supposed to lead us on
the old trade route. After 2S mile
| Of the most beartbreaking going, W
, found that the track had ceased
/ exist, and we We're so near the Afgha
: border that we began to get nervous
: and, taking IL compass bearing,
! headed south again for the railway.
) The whole of that afternoon wa
J the most heart breaking time l hav
, ever experienced, and our difilcultte
can be ina gined by the fact that n
one occasion I travelled an actus
distance of 800 yards. during which
recorded eight and one-half miles o
|, the speedometer.
: We were saved only by the fac
l that we carried two 15-yard length
L of wire netting such as is used fo
4 building chicken houses. Wheneve
4 stuck we laid this down on the loos
( sand, and 1t enabled US to pull OF
y of the mess. Poor old Felix wa
( tried to the utmost; / trembled fo
him continually, but breed told an
f he stuck it.
yi An axtra heavy patch Of SAND toa