SOUNDING LAKE KARAKUL.
From sketch by Dr Hedin.
as I reached the right bank of the river, I heard the sound of a duck lifting and the noise of splashing water. I crawled in that direction, and found a large pool of clear, fresh water. I thanked God first, and then I felt my pulse. I wanted to see the effect that drinking would have on it. It was at forty-eight. Then I drank. I drank fearfully. I had a little tin with me. It had contained chocolates, but I had thrown these away as I could swallow nothing. The tin I had kept. I had felt sure, all the time, that I should find water and that I should use that tin as a drinking-cup. I drank and drank and drank. It was a most lovely feeling. I felt my blood liquefying. It began to run in my veins; my pores opened. My pulse went up at once to fifty-three. I felt quite fresh and living.
"As I lay there I heard a noise in the reeds like a big animal moving. I thought it must be a tiger. There are tigers in the Khotan-Darya. I had not the faintest feeling of fear. I felt that the life that had been just regained could not be taken from me by such a beast as a tiger. I waited for him with pleasure. I wanted to look into his eyes. He did not come. He was probably frightened to see a man."
"Was not the torture of thirst terrible during those nine days?"
"No. After the first three or four days the sharpness of the want seemed to blunt itself. But as the days went on I grew weaker and weaker. I felt like a convalescent after many, many years of sickness.
"Then," continued Sven Hedin, "I remembered Kasim. So I took off my Swedish boots and filled them with water, and hooked them by the tags over the ends of my spade-haft, and retraced my steps. I could Walk now. But it was so dark
IN THE DESERT. ABANDONING THE FIRST CAMELS.
From sketch by Dr. Hedin.
