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124 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
that lay scattered about inside it. Meanwhile, I had not
been idle, but seizing a felt carpet had flung it upon the
burning tent, and so stifled the fire. Upon reaching Ying-
pen, an oasis beside the dry bed of the Kuruk-daria, we
rested two or three days, so as to give the camels an oppor-
tunity to get a good feed before we plunged into the desert.
There I dismissed several men who had accompanied us
thus far on horseback. They took back with them all our
superfluous winter clothing, the stove, and certain other
things that we could do without.
On 13th March we continued our journey towards the
east. During the night a strong gale had sprung up from
the east, and had torn my tent up by the roots, so that the
canvas streamed out cracking on the wind like a loosened
sail. We had only got about five or six miles when the
storm developed into a perfect hurricane. The surface of
the desert consisted of fine, powdery dust, and it streamed
out behind the caravan like a comet’s tail. The men sat
crouched under their chapans, or " overcoats," bobbing up
and down between the camels’ humps. By two o’clock it
was dark as twilight, and we were enveloped on every
side b}^ impenetrable clouds of dust and drift-sand.
As, in Abdu Rehim’s words, it was blowing " hard
enough to break the camels’ backs," we thought it best to
stop where we were ; and, indeed, it was impossible to see
where we were going to. All the same we attempted to
find a place in this curiously-modelled clay desert that
would afford us, at anyrate, a little shelter against the
wind. We were in great danger of losing one another. I
myself went a little bit down the wind in search of a
hollow. Went ! did I say ? I was literally carried by the
wind ; in fact, I thought I was flying. When I at length
turned to go back again, I had to meet the full fury of the
tempest, the thick reddish-yellow dust driving full into my
face. Where were the rest ? I shouted ; but I scarcely
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