The several
parties for the explorations I had carefully planned during the next three
months in the desert between Lop-nor and Tunhuang."
"The name of LOB appears under the form Lo pou in the Yuan-shi, s.a.
1282 and 1286. In 1286, it is mentioned as a postal station near those of
K'ie-t'ai, Che-ch'an and Wo-tuan. Wo-tuan is Khotan. Che-ch'an, the name
of which reappears in other paragraphs, is Charchan. As to K'ie-t'ai, a
postal station between those of Lob and Charchan, it seems probable that
it is the Kaetaek of the Tarikh-i-Rashidi." (PELLIOT.)
See in the Journ. Asiatique, Jan.-Feb., 1916, pp. 117-119, Pelliot's
remarks on Lob, Navapa, etc.
XXXIX., pp. 196-7.
THE GREAT DESERT.
After reproducing the description of the Great Desert in Sir Henry Yule's
version, Stein adds, Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 518:
"It did not need my journey to convince me that what Marco here tells us
about the risks of the desert was but a faithful reflex of old folklore
beliefs he must have heard on the spot. Sir Henry Yule has shown long ago
that the dread of being led astray by evil spirits haunted the imagination
of all early travellers who crossed the desert wastes between China and
the oases westwards.
