There Are Numerous Towns And Villages, And
The Chief City Of The Kingdom Bears Its Name, Charchan.
The Province
contains rivers which bring down Jasper and Chalcedony, and these are
carried for sale into Cathay, where they fetch great prices.
The whole of
the Province is sandy, and so is the road all the way from Pein, and much
of the water that you find is bitter and bad. However, at some places you
do find fresh and sweet water. When an army passes through the land, the
people escape with their wives, children, and cattle a distance of two or
three days' journey into the sandy waste; and knowing the spots where
water is to be had, they are able to live there, and to keep their cattle
alive, whilst it is impossible to discover them; for the wind immediately
blows the sand over their track.
Quitting Charchan, you ride some five days through the sands, finding none
but bad and bitter water, and then you come to a place where the water is
sweet. And now I will tell you of a province called Lop, in which there is
a city, also called LOP, which you come to at the end of those five days.
It is at the entrance of the great Desert, and it is here that travellers
repose before entering on the Desert.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1. - Though the Lake of Lob or Lop appears on all our maps, from
Chinese authority, the latter does not seem to have supplied information
as to a town so called. We have, however, indications of the existence of
such a place, both mediaeval and recent. The History of Mirza Haidar,
called the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, already referred to, in describing the Great
Basin of Eastern Turkestan, says: "Formerly there were several large
cities in this plain; the names of two have survived - Lob and Kank,
but of the rest there is no trace or tradition; all is buried under the
sand." [Forsyth (J. R. G. S. XLVII. 1877, p. 5) says that he thinks that
this Kank is probably the Katak mentioned by Mirza Haidar. - H. C.] In
another place the same history says that a boy heir of the house of
Chaghatai, to save him from a usurper, was sent away to Sarigh Uighur and
Lob-Kank, far in the East. Again, in the short notices of the cities of
Turkestan which Mr. Wathen collected at Bombay from pilgrims of those
regions on their way to Mecca, we find the following: "Lopp. - Lopp is
situated at a great distance from Yarkand. The inhabitants are principally
Chinese; but a few Uzbeks reside there. Lopp is remarkable for a
salt-water lake in its vicinity." Johnson, speaking of a road from Tibet
into Khotan, says: "This route ... leads not only to Ilchi and Yarkand, but
also via Lob to the large and important city of Karashahr." And among the
routes attached to Mr. Johnson's original Report, we have: -
"Route No.
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