the camels were not all unpacked, which proved afterwards
to have been a mistake. These wells were 100
feet higher, according to my aneroid, than the place
where we last encamped, but we marched in the seabed
another 4 miles, and then at 11 o’clock ascended
300 feet out of its bed, on to the hill Begendjalri Kir,
the cliffs running from N.W. to S.E.
The coming out of the bed was as remarkable as
descending into it, for towards the top of the ramp the
chalky cliffs were worn into resemblance to a chain of
snow mountains, that I fancifully called the “ Bernese
Oberland,” with crevasses here and there, and well-
marked rifts, caused apparently by the running of
water. Here, too, jutting out beyond a promontory,
was another “ St. Michael’s Mount.” On reaching
the top, I turned round to gaze at this wonderful landscape.
Diotrephes did not appreciate the scenery a
bit, for the caravan was gone on, and the loneliness of
the desert had given him a strong aversion to being
left behind, or getting far away from his companions.
I made him stand, however, whilst I vainly asked
myself what it all meant. When had the voice gone
forth to the waters, Be dry ?#
And what waters were they ? salt or fresh ? A bay of
the Caspian, or the remains of the great Central Asian
Sea, that geologists talk of ? These are questions I am
incapable of answering. I can only say that this Bay
o f Kaplan K ir was the fourth point of' interest in my
desert journey, and from its entire unlikeness to anything
I had ever seen, it reconciled me to the fatigues
o f the way, and made me thankful to have been
the first Englishman to gaze upon this remarkable
scene.
* Isa. xliv. 27.
C H A P T E R L X X I I .
FROM K A P L A N K IR TO K R A SN O V O D SK
Road to well of Seikiz Khan.—Improved prospects, but low spirits.—
Search of Bible for illustrative passages.—Lack of domestic comforts.—
Revival of hope at sight of Caspian.—Russian itinerary
from Iliali to Krasnovodsk.—The pond of Porsu.—Gazelles.—The
Kara-boghaz and its geography.—A sixteen hours’ march
Oriental customs illustrated.— Fauna of the steppe.—The liind
tortoise.— Last night on the camel’s back.—Mouldy bread and
tattered garments.B-Arrival at Krasnovodsk.
LE A V IN G Kaplan Kir, we next passed along a
level elevation for about 7 miles, and then
mounted to the highest part of the neighbouring hills,
called Begendjalri Kir, where we came to another flat
steppe, without bushes, and only a scrubby vegetation,
in the midst of which we encamped at sunset. The
direct path would have brought us along the hills to
the pool Dungra, of bad, bitter, salt water, overgrown
with reeds, 39 miles from Kum-sebshem. But this
path, though shorter, was said to be trying to the
camels’ legs, and, rather than risk breaking them, our
men, starting afresh at midnight, turned off the principal
road about 13 miles short of Dungra, and brought us
before sunrise on the 18th to the well Seikiz (or eighth)
Khan, so named after the present Khivan ruler. Our
route from the main road to the well, where we drew
water, was 4 miles to the north-west; now it turned