steeper one; it was not till break of day that we contrived, with great fatigue, to reach the high plateau. The nomads in their fables seek to connect the ancient bed of the Oxus with the ruins of Meshedi Misriyan, and declare that the Oxus formerly flowed near the walls of the edifice designed for the Kaaba, and that, at a later period, incensed at the sins of the Göklens, the river turned to the north.

The more the Balkan disappeared in the blue clouds in our rear, the greater and more awful became the majesty of the boundless desert. I had before been of opinion that the desert can only impress the mind with an idea of sublimity where both fancy and enthusiasm concur to give coloring and definiteness to the picture. But I was wrong. I have seen in the lowlands of my own beloved country a miniature picture of the desert; a sketch of it, too, on a larger scale, later, when I traversed, in Persia, a part of the salt desert (Deschti Kuvir); but how different the feelings which I here experienced! No, it is not the imagination, as men falsely suppose; it is nature itself that lights the torch of inspiration. I often tried to brighten the dark hues of the wilderness by picturing, in its immediate vicinity, cities and stirring life, but in vain; the interminable hills of sand, the dreadful stillness of death, the yellowish-red hue of the sun at rising and setting-yes, every thing tells us that we are here in a great, perhaps in the greatest, desert on the surface of our globe!

About midday (May 22) we encamped near Yeti Siri, so named from the seven wells formerly existing here; from three of these a very salt, bad-smell

CHAP. VII.

TURKOMAN SUPERSTITIONS.

135 ing water can still be obtained, but the other four are entirely dried up. The kervanbashi expressed a hope of our finding this evening some rain-water. Although what remained in my skin was more like mud, I would not exchange it for the bitter, nauseous fluid of these wells, out of which the camels were made to drink, and some of my fellow-travelers made their provisions. I was astonished to see how the latter vied with their four-footed brethren in drinking; they laughed at my counsels to be abstemious, but had later occasion to rue their having slighted them.

After a short halt we again started, passing by a hill higher than the rest of the sand-hills; upon the former we saw two empty kedjeve. I was told that the travelers who had been seated therein had perished in the desert, and that every thing that had held men was respected among the Turkomans, and its destruction regarded as a sin. Singular superstition! Men sold to slavery and lands laid waste regarded as acts of virtue, and a wooden basket held in honor because men have once been seated in it! The desert and its inhabitants are really singular and extraordinary. The reader will be still more surprised when I relate to him what we witnessed this same evening. When it became cooler I dismounted with the kervanbashi and some other Turkomans in search of some rain-water that we hoped to find. We were all armed, and each went in a different direction. I followed the kervanbashi; and we had advanced perhaps forty steps, when the latter observed some traces in the sand, and in great astonishment exclaimed,

"Here there must be men." We got our muskets ready, and, guided by the track that became clearer and clearer, we at last reached the mouth of a cave. As from the prints in the sand we could infer that there was but a single man, we soon penetrated into the place, and I saw, with indescribable horror, a man-half a savage, with long hair and beard, clad in the skin of a gazelle-who, no less astonished, sprang up, and with leveled lance rushed upon us.

While I was contemplating the whole scene with the greatest impatience, the features of my guide showed the most imperturbable composure. When he distinguished the half-savage man he dropped the end of his weapon, and murmuring in a low voice "Amanbol" (Peace be unto thee), he quitted the horrible place. "Kanli dir, he is one who has blood upon his head," exclaimed the kervanbashi, without my having ventured to question him. It was not till later that I learned that this unhappy man, fleeing from a righteous vendetta, had been for years and years, summer and winter, wandering round the desert; man's face he must not, he dares not behold!*

Troubled at the sight of this poor sinner, I sighed to think that, in the search after sweet water, we had discovered only traces of blood. My companions re

* The "vendetta" is here even tolerated by religion! and I was eye-witness in Etrek to an occurrence where a son, in the presence of his mother, avenged the death of his father, that had taken place eight years before, by shooting his step-father, who had married her, and who, it appeared, had been an accomplice. It was very characteristic that the people who were present at his interment condoled with the mother, and at the same time felicitated the son on the act of piety which he had accomplished.

turned also without having been successful, and the thought made me shudder that this evening I should swallow the last dregs of the "sweet slime." Oh! (thought I) water, dearest of all elements, why did I not earlier appreciate thy worth? Man uses thy blessings like a spendthrift! Yes, in my country man fears thee even; and now what would I give could I only obtain thirty or twenty drops of thy divine moisture!

I ate only a few bits of bread, which I moistened in hot water, for I heard that in boiling it loses its bitter flavor. I was prepared to endure all until we could meet with a little rain-water-I was terrified by the condition of my companions all suffering from violent diarrhoea. Some Turkomans, especially the kervanbashi, were much suspected of having concealed some of the necessary liquid; but who dared to speak out his thought when every design upon his water-skin would be considered as a design upon the life of its owner, and when a man would have been regarded as out of his senses who should have asked another for a loan of water or present of water? This evening my appetite left me. I had not the slightest craving even for the smallest piece of bread: my sensations were those of extreme debility; the heat of the day was indescribable. My strength was gone, and I was lying there extended, when I perceived that all were pressing round the kervanbashi; they made a sign to me also to approach. The words "Water, water," gave me fresh vigor. I sprang up; how overjoyed and how surprised I was when I saw the kervanbashi dealing out to each member of the