than men. And they passed through the great city of Samarkand,
where the Green Stone is on which Timur's throne was set. . .
And were born and died. . .

They passed through Tangut, where the men will not carry the dead
out through the door of a house, but must break a hole in the wall.
And they passed through Kialehta, where there are snow-white camels.
And they passed through the lands of Prester John.

And now they were in the Tatar lands. There passed them lowing musk
oxen. There passed them the wild asses of Mongolia. There passed
them the barbarians, with their great tents on wheels. There passed
them the black-jowled, savage, idolaters. There passed them the
pretty white-faced women. There passed them huge, abominable dogs.

And they came to the town of Lob, and a new moon arose, and they
entered the Desert of the Singing Sands.



CHAPTER X

Wherever they went now was sand, and a dull haze that made the sun
look like a copper coin. And a great silence fell on the caravan,
and nothing was heard but the crunch of the camels' pads and the
tinkle of the camels' bells. And no green thing was seen.

And a great terror fell on the caravan, so that one night a third
of the caravan deserted. The rest went on in silence under the dull
sun. And now they came across a village of white skeletons grinning