OF THE CITY OF LOP AND THE GREAT DESERT.
"In the hope of contributing something toward the solution of these
questions [contradictory statements of Prjevalsky, Richthofen, and Sven
Hedin]," writes Huntington, "I planned to travel completely around the
unexplored part of the ancient lake, crossing the Lop desert in its widest
part. As a result of the journey, I became convinced that two thousand
years ago the lake was of great size, covering both the ancient and the
modern locations; then it contracted, and occupied only the site shown on
the Chinese maps; again, in the Middle Ages, it expanded; and at present
it has contracted and occupies the modern site.
"Now, as in Marco Polo's days, the traveller must equip his caravan for
the desert at Charklik, also known as Lop, two days' journey south-west of
the lake." (Ellsworth HUNTINGTON, The Pulse of Asia, pp. 240-1.)
XXXIX., pp. 197, 201.
NOISES IN THE GREAT DESERT.
As an answer to a paper by C. TOMLINSON, in Nature, Nov. 28, 1895, p.
78, we find in the same periodical, April 30, 1896, LIII., p. 605, the
following note by KUMAGUSU MINAKATA: "The following passage in a Chinese
itinerary of Central Asia - Chun Yuen's Si-yih-kien-wan-luh, 1777
(British Museum, No.
