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dense winds.20 The mules had wings, as it were, in the sacks on their sides, and went like deer, so that their steps could not be seen because of their speed. The carts, the place of sport of the young men placed in them, looked like moving houses. The huge-bodied, high-shouldered buffaloes, carrying water, satisfied the people's thirst, like clouds that have reached the earth. Then the earth, pressed on all sides by the weight of his loads of merchandise, cried out, as it were, by the creaking of the line of carts. The dust, raised on all sides by the multitudes of oxen, camels, and horses, covered the sky so that dense darkness prevailed. Far away, the Yaks with their young, their ears erect, trembled at the sounds of the oxen's bells by which the heavens were deafened. Even though carrying large loads, even though walking, the camels frequently lopped off the tops of the trees with their necks turned. The donkeys, with their ears erect and necks outstretched, biting each other with their teeth, were at the very last, with bags put on their backs. Surrounded on all sides by armed guards, the caravan advanced along the road, as if inside a cage of adamant. Robbers stayed at a distance from the caravan though it had great wealth, just as if it were the serpent-king with a head-jewel of great value. Dhana, equally eager for the poor man's obtaining and the rich man's enjoying, led them all with him, like the lord of the herd leading young elephants.
Dhana made a march day by day like the sun, looked for by all the people with wide-open eyes. At that time, it was the fiery summer season terrible to travelers, diminishing the water of the ponds and rivers, as well as shortening the nights. Winds that were like fires, thoroughly unbearable, blew, and the sun spread its heat that was like a mass of fire on all sides. The
20 67. See App. I.
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