[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.
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