[This desert was known in China of old by the name of Lew-sha, i.e.
"Quicksand," or literally, "Flowing sands." (Palladius, Jour. N. China B.
R. As. Soc. N.S. X. 1875, p. 4.)
A most interesting problem is connected with the situation of Lob-nor
which led to some controversy between Baron von Richthofen and Prjevalsky.
The latter placed the lake one degree more to the south than the Chinese
did, and found that its water was sweet. Richthofen agreed with the
Chinese Topographers and wrote in a letter to Sir Henry Yule: "I send you
two tracings; one of them is a true copy of the Chinese map, the other is
made from a sketch which I constructed to-day, and on which I tried to put
down the Chinese Topography together with that of Prjevalsky. It appears
evident - (1) That Prjevalsky travelled by the ancient road to a point
south of the true Lop-noor; (2) that long before he reached this point he
found the river courses quite different from what they had been formerly;
and (3) that following one of the new rivers which flows due south by a
new road, he reached the two sweet-water lakes, one of which answers to
the ancient Khas-omo. I use the word 'new' merely by way of comparison
with the state of things in Kien-long's time, when the map was made. It
appears that the Chinese map shows the Khas Lake too far north to cover
the Kara-Koshun. The bifurcation of the roads south of the lake nearly
resembles that which is marked by Prjevalsky." (Preface of E. D. Morgan's
transl. of From Kulja across the Tian Shan to Lob-nor, by Colonel N.
Prjevalsky, London, 1879, p. iv.) In this same volume Baron von
Richthofen's remarks are given (pp. 135-159, with a map, p. 144), showing
comparison between Chinese and Prjevalsky's Geography from tracings by
Baron von Richthofen and (pp. 160-165) a translation of Prjevalsky's
replies to the Baron's criticisms.
Now the Swedish traveller, Dr. Sven Hedin, claims to have settled this
knotty point. Going from Korla, south-west of Kara-shahr, by a road at the
foot of the Kurugh-tagh and between these mountains and the Koncheh Daria,
he discovered the ruins of two fortresses, and a series of milestones
(potais). These tall pyramids of clay and wood, indicating distances in
lis show the existence at an ancient period of a road with a large
traffic between Korla and an unknown place to the south-east, probably on
the shores of the Chinese Lob-nor. Prjevalsky, who passed between the
Lower Tarim and the Koncheh Daria, could not see a lake or the remains of
a lake to the east of this river. The Koncheh Daria expands into a marshy
basin, the Malta Kul, from which it divides into two branches, the
Kuntiekkich Tarim (East River) and the Ilek (river) to the E.S.E. Dr. Sven
Hedin, after following the course of the Ilek for three days (4th April,
1896) found a large sheet of water in the valley at the very place marked
by the Chinese Topographers and Richthofen for the Lob-nor.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 391 of 655
Words from 204121 to 204667
of 342071
