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2/8 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
region before he perished of hunger. Our position was
beginning to be desperate. I had never been in such
straits since the terrible days of the Takla-makan in 1895.
All we now had to live upon were the wild-ducks that
Shagdur shot.
All of a sudden I made up my mind that we would push
on. Accordingly we hastened to tvu-n our backs upon that
inhospitable shore which we had iirst beheld with such
feelings of confident hope. The sky was grey and heavy
after the storm ; the diffused light cast no shadows. Whilst
following the shore, we found that all at once it swung
away quite unexpectedly towards the north. Khodai
KuUu’s footsteps were perceptible every now and again.
Then we came to an old, old kamish hut, buried up to the
eaves in drift-sand. Upon a closer examination we detected
a canoe leaning against the wall. In a moment it flashed
upon me that this boat might prove our salvation. With
it Kutchuk and I could in the course of a few hours
paddle to those parts of the Kara-koshun in which the
water is fresh and the kamish plentiful, and fish abound.
At it we went, then, shovelling the sand away with desperate
energy. We got down three feet, we got down six feet,
then we found—a big gaping hole in the bottom of the
canoe, while the whole of the forepart, which penetrated
to the ground-water, was rotten. On then again ! At
length the shore of the lake turned once more to the west,
and we still followed it. Soon after that we came to a
second hut, standing solitary and deserted quite close
to the edge of the water. Shagdur took advantage of it,
and, creeping stealthily along the ground like a fox, let
fly in the middle of a flock of wild-duck, which were chat-
tering at the lake-side. When he returned, carrying seven
birds in his hands, he was received with quite a cheer.
This would keep us going for two days more.
As the lake shore now inclined to the south, we turned
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