We had before heard of the deserts south of the Oxus; and had now the means of forming a judgment from personal observation. We saw the skeletons of camels and horses now bleaching in the sun, which had perished from thirst. The nature of the roads or pathways admits of their easy obliteration; and, if the beaten track be once forsaken, the traveller and his jaded animal generally perish. A circumstance of this very nature occurred but a few days previous to our leaving Charjooee. A party of three persons travelling from the Orgunje camp lost the road, and their supply of water failed them. Two of their horses sank under the parching thirst; and the unfortunate men opened the vein of their surviving camel, sucked its blood, and reached Charjooee from the nourishment which they thus derived. The camel died. These are facts of frequent occurrence. The Khan of Orgunje, in his late march into the desert, lost upwards of two thousand camels, that had been loaded with water and provisions for his men. He dug his wells as he advanced; but the supply of water was scanty. Camels are very patient under thirst: it is a vulgar error, however, to believe that they can live any length of time without water. They generally pine, and die on the fourth day, and, under great heat, will even sink sooner. ~Seerab.~ ~Camel’s milk.~ After a day’s detention to rest the camels, we marched at sunrise, and continued our progress, with a short halt, till the same time next day. We journied thirty-five miles, and alighted at a fetid well called Seerab; and from well to well we had no water. We appeared to have lost the great sand hills in our advance westward. The desert, though it had the same features as before, now presented an undulating and uneven country of sand, partially covered with shrubs. The soil was salt in some places; but the water of the well was good enough after it was some time drawn. Our Toorkmun Sirdar made his appearance shortly after our arrival, to claim his cup of tea; and never was a schoolboy more fond of sugar than this hoary-headed Toorkmun. I used to give it to him to have the pleasure of seeing him grind it, though some of the merchants wondered at our wasting it on such a person. I always felt the happier in the company of this man, for I looked upon him as the only bond between us and the barbarians we were to encounter. He used also to tell us the news of the caravan, and all the particulars of the country, which he even knew that we noted down. Ernuzzer did not deceive us, and the tea and the sugar which he consumed, were but a small tax for his service. In return for these favours, he promised to give me a _bonne bouche_, when we reached the first camp of the Toorkmuns; and when I expected nothing else than “kimmiz” or “boozu,” mare’s milk or fermented liquor, he brought me camel’s milk, which is the only drink of the Toorkmuns. The milk is mixed with water, and the cream is then drawn off.