Page:McClure's Magazine v9 n3 to v10 no2.djvu/563

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I made topographical maps of fourteen glaciers. I passed the winter in Kashgar, where I was ill with fever. When I recovered I wrote several scientific articles. Then I prepared for the journey through the desert."

And now Sven Hedin, seating himself on the sill of his study window, swinging his legs to and fro like an idle boy, and leisurely smoking a cigar as he spoke, proceeded to tell me, quietly and without gesture or emphasis, such a story of human endurance and human courage, of trust in self and faith in God, as few men have lived to tell.

"I started from Kashgar on February 17, 1895, with four Turkish servants and eight fine camels. I wanted to cross from the Yarkand-Darya River to the Khotan-Darya River, over the Takla-Makan Desert. I wanted to explore this desert, which nobody had ever done. There were many legends anent it amongst the inhabitants on its confines—stories of ancient towns buried in the sand; and I wanted to learn if there was any foundation for these stories. I entered the desert on April 10th. We had water for twenty-five days with us, carried in iron tanks on the backs of the camels. It was all sand—moving dunes of sand. The days were very hot, the nights were bitterly cold. The air was full of dust. We crossed the first half of the desert in thirteen days, and came to a region where there were some hills and small fresh-water lakes. Here I bade my men fill the cisterns with fresh water for ten days. We then proceeded, all going well. On the second day after we had left the lakes, I looked at the cisterns and found that water for four days only had been taken! I thought we could reach the Khotan-Darya in six days, and one of my servants told me that in three days' march from where we were we should find a place where we could dig for water. I believed him, and we went on.

"We found no water, and two days after, our supply was exhausted. The camels got ill; we lost three camels before May 1st. On May 1st the men began to sicken. I was so thirsty that I drank a glass of the vile Chinese spirit. It made me very ill. We only proceeded four kilometers that day—early in the morning. My men were all weeping and clamoring to Allah. They said they could go no further; they said they wanted to die. I made them put up the tent, and then we all undressed and lay down naked in the tent. During that day we killed our last sheep, and