Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/47

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pace for about four miles, when we passed a huge caravanserai, into which, in despair, we turned for shelter. It was crowded with camels, donkeys, and native travellers, weatherbound like ourselves, and it was almost painful to see the cakes of sand clotted round the eyes of the unfortunate animals, which we knew from personal experience must have been causing intolerable irritation. Our own faces, in spite of veils, handkerchiefs, and spectacles, were plastered with fine sand, which adhered to the skin by means of the moisture running from our eyes. We found tea the best thing for washing our faces under these conditions, and we bathed our eyes with cooling lotions taken from our medicine chest. Our gholam said he had never experienced in all his many journeys so violent a sand-storm, and as we found it impossible to proceed we took possession of a half empty wool-shed, where we spread our carpets and prepared our luncheon. By this means we whiled away some three hours, every few minutes cautiously opening the door and peering out into the thick, stormy, and sand-laden atmosphere, in order to ascertain what