ia," says I. J.
Schmidt, "the earth and its interior, as well as the encompassing
atmosphere, are filled with Spiritual Beings, which exercise an influence,
partly beneficent, partly malignant, on the whole of organic and inorganic
nature.... Especially are Deserts and other wild or uninhabited tracts, or
regions in which the influences of nature are displayed on a gigantic and
terrible scale, regarded as the chief abode or rendezvous of evil
Spirits.... And hence the steppes of Turan, and in particular the great
sandy Desert of Gobi have been looked on as the dwelling-place of
malignant beings, from days of hoar antiquity."

The Chinese historian Ma Twan-lin informs us that there were two roads
from China into the Uighur country (towards Karashahr). The longest but
easiest road was by Kamul. The other was much shorter, and apparently
corresponded, as far as Lop, to that described in this chapter. "By this
you have to cross a plain of sand, extending for more than 100 leagues.
You see nothing in any direction but the sky and the sands, without the
slightest trace of a road; and travellers find nothing to guide them but
the bones of men and beasts and the droppings of camels. During the
passage of this wilderness you hear sounds, sometimes of singing,
sometimes of wailing; and it has often happened that travellers going
aside to see what those sounds might be have strayed from their course and
been entirely lost; for they were voices of spirits and goblins. 'Tis for
these reasons that travellers and merchants often prefer the much longer
route by Kamul." (_Visdelou_, p. 139.)

"In the Desert" (this same desert), says Fa-hian, "there are a great many
evil demons; there are also sirocco winds, which kill all who encounter
them. There are no birds or beasts to be seen; but so far as the eye can
reach, the route is marked out by the bleached bones of men who have
perished in the attempt to cross."

["The Lew-sha was the subject of various most exaggerated stories. We find
more trustworthy accounts of it in the _Chow shu_; thus it is mentioned in
that history, that there sometimes arises in this desert a 'burning wind,'
pernicious to men and cattle; in such cases the old camels of the caravan,
having a presentiment of its approach, flock shrieking to one place, lie
down on the ground and hide their heads in the sand. On this signal, the
travellers also lie down, close nose and mouth, and remain in this
position until the hu