Taklamakan Desert of water, accounts for the somewhat wide diurnal temperature variation. The Taklamakan Desert has very little water, therefore it is hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns. It was in close proximity to many of the ancient civilizations — to the Northwest is the Amu Darya basin, to the southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the east is China, and even to the north ancient towns such as Almaty can be found. The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar,
In the Heart of the Country the 1977 British version, the 1977 American version which was the same but published under the title "From The Heart Of The Country", and the 1978 South African version. In the South African version the novel's dialogue is in Afrikaans. The novel was awarded the 1977 CNA Prize. Marion Hänsel directed a motion picture adaptation, "Dust," in 1985. In the Heart of the Country In the Heart of the Country (1977) is an early novel by South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee. The book is one of Coetzee's more experimental novels and is narrated through 266 numbered paragraphs rather than