ough the whole of Asia and Africa, like a
dried-up river bed. This belt includes the Gobi, which extends over most
of Mongolia, the Takla-makan, the "Red Sand" and the "Black Sand" in
Russian Turkestan, the Kevir and other deserts in Persia, the deserts of
Arabia, and lastly the Sahara. In this succession of deserts extending
over the Old World from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic the
Takla-makan is, then, a link.

ACROSS A SEA OF SAND

In the beginning of April, 1895, I had reached the Yarkand-darya and had
encamped at a village, Merket, on its eastern bank. My plan was to
cross the Takla-makan desert, which stretches away to the eastward, and
to reach the river Khotan-darya, which flows northwards, the distance
being 180 miles. My caravan consisted of four servants and eight camels;
and we took provisions for two months--for we intended afterwards to
travel on to Tibet--and water for twenty-five days in four iron
cisterns.

We started on April 10. A white camel was led in front by a man we
called the guide, because every one said that he had often been in the
desert seeking for treasure. My riding camel was led by a white-bearded
man named Muhamed Shah. Kasim came at the end of the file, and the
faithful Islam Bay, who superintended the whole, was my confidential
servant. We had also two dogs, Yolldash and Hamra, three sheep, ten
hens, and a cock. The last did not like riding on a camel. He was always
working his way out through the bars of his cage, and fluttering down to
the ground with a loud crow.

For the first few days all went on quietly and satisfactorily. At night
we could always obtain water for the camels and other animals by
digging, and thus we saved the fresh river-water in our tanks. But the
sand became gradually higher and forced us to diverge to the north-east.
On April 18 we came to a morass surrounded by wood so thick that we had
to clear a way with the axe. Next day we encamped on the shore of a lake
of beautiful blue water where ducks and geese were swimming about, and
my tent was set up under a couple of poplars.

Another day's march led us along the shore of a long lake with bare
banks. We encamped at its southern extremity and rested a day, for here
nothing could be seen towards the south and west but yellow sand. The
guide asserted that it was four days' journey eastwards to the river
Khotan-darya, and this statement agreed approximately with existing
maps, but I took the precaution