DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0025
chap. xii. MARCH IN THE DESERT.
9
and, after a couple of hours' rest and the indispens-
able cup of tea,.to resume the task, and advance to
the stage, which is usually reached at daylight.
We made the usual evening halt, and then travelled
till sunrise, when we reached Karoul, a well of
brackish water, thirty feet under ground, lined with
branches of trees, at which we halted, a distance of
twenty-two miles from Charjooee. The whole tract
presented to our view was a dreary waste of sand-
hills, but by no means so destitute of vegetation and
underwood as on the northern bank of the Oxus.
They, however, occurred in the same succession
and formation as have been there described : they
were quite soft; but the sand was not dusty, and the
camels slid down them with their burthens. Here
and there we came upon a sheet of indurated clay,
as if the sand-hills here also rested on a base of that
kind. In these hollows, and on the brow of the
hills, we found a shrub like tamarisk, called " ka-
sura," also a kind of grass, or bent, called " salun."
There were likewise two thorny shrubs, called " kuz-
sak" and "karaghan,"* neither of them the com-
mon camel thorn, but on which the camels delighted
to browse. There was no water throughout the
whole march, and no signs of inhabitants but a
ruined fort, that had once served as a look-out from
the Oxus. The Indian deserts of Jaysulmeer and
Parkur sank into insignificance before this vast ocean
of sand. No sight is more imposing than a desert;
and the eye rests with a deep interest on the long
* I can only give the native names.
9
and, after a couple of hours' rest and the indispens-
able cup of tea,.to resume the task, and advance to
the stage, which is usually reached at daylight.
We made the usual evening halt, and then travelled
till sunrise, when we reached Karoul, a well of
brackish water, thirty feet under ground, lined with
branches of trees, at which we halted, a distance of
twenty-two miles from Charjooee. The whole tract
presented to our view was a dreary waste of sand-
hills, but by no means so destitute of vegetation and
underwood as on the northern bank of the Oxus.
They, however, occurred in the same succession
and formation as have been there described : they
were quite soft; but the sand was not dusty, and the
camels slid down them with their burthens. Here
and there we came upon a sheet of indurated clay,
as if the sand-hills here also rested on a base of that
kind. In these hollows, and on the brow of the
hills, we found a shrub like tamarisk, called " ka-
sura," also a kind of grass, or bent, called " salun."
There were likewise two thorny shrubs, called " kuz-
sak" and "karaghan,"* neither of them the com-
mon camel thorn, but on which the camels delighted
to browse. There was no water throughout the
whole march, and no signs of inhabitants but a
ruined fort, that had once served as a look-out from
the Oxus. The Indian deserts of Jaysulmeer and
Parkur sank into insignificance before this vast ocean
of sand. No sight is more imposing than a desert;
and the eye rests with a deep interest on the long
* I can only give the native names.