THE KODAJ-DARJA AND THE KASCHGAR-DARJA. 65
Jussup-Bekning-toghi, the place mentioned above, is a dam, which was built in 1892 by Jussup Bek of Maral-baschi. It would appear to be a work of some magnitude, for it is 4 m. broad and 11/2 m. high, and is reported to extend for 15 km., from Jigde-örtäng, the first place where we encamped after leaving Kuruk-asti, northwards to the little lake of Ukarlik-köl, situated beyond the Tömän-tagh, and is said to have taken 2000 men two months to build. Its object is to distribute the waters of the Kodaj-darja through the irrigation canals to the oases, which cannot exist without irrigation.
Leaving the little lake of Hättim Schah on the north, the Kodaj-darja continues its easterly course, through Milka and Kara-gudschek, until it reaches Dugha-dschaji, about 3 km. north of our camp of the same name on the Jarkent-darja. Frequently the forest tracts beside these two streams, which flow so closely parallel to one another, bear identically the same names. At Dugha-dschaji the river again divides. Its right branch, the southern Kodaj-darja, flows through Säsik on to Toghri, where, as we have already seen, it enters the Jarkent-darja. The left or northern branch, called Arpa-akin, goes first to Charman-tala, an uninhabited locality affording some pasture, and then to Kara-buka, where it unites with the other division of the stream which comes from Hättim Schah-köl. This last, meanwhile, has made its way north through the little kamisch-grown marsh of Säsik-köl and the uninhabited forest of Tschongtoghrak, so named from its magnificent poplars, and so on to Kara-buka. Hence the reunited stream proceeds 11/2 km. further to join the Kara-jilgha-darja.
About 11/2 km. before the Kodaj-darja reaches Masar-aldi, and at a spot which is near Kuruk-asti and some 9 km. from the Jarkent-darja, the first-named river sends off the Ak-östäng, which proceeds to the lake of Mukurning-köli, situated close to the west foot of the Sultan Kara Sakal Attam. Then, quitting the lake at its eastern end, it reenters the Kodaj-darja on the south of the Sultan Kara Sakal Attam. This is the second branch of the Kodaj-darja.
The third branch has its beginning (baschi) about 10 km. from Kuruk-asti, in the district of Bisch-östäng near Jussup Bekning-toghi, but the great dam forces it to skirt round a northern spur of the Sultan Kara Sakal Attam, called Kallaptagh; whence it proceeds eastwards, until it joins two other arms of the Kodaj-darja at Ak-dung. After that the stream continues, viâ Kargha-lämpäsi and Dung-kotan, to Kemi-sälägä, where, as the name indicates, there is a little ferry-boat or canoe for the use of traffic along the Pitschak-sindi and Tschadir-köl road, which here intersects the river. From Kemi-sälägä the stream flows on to Kötäklik, where it unites with the first and second branches, and then passes through Ilanlik, Jangal-kotan, Kara-tisme, Kälpin-satmasi, Sadet Bekning-lämpäsi to Kalaghatsch-kujlusch, where we passed it below Kujluschning-baschi on 17th October.
Immediately north of Bisch-östäng, mentioned above, there is a small burial-place, Kulluk Bajning-gumbesi, crowning a little hill of the same name. The Tschirikatlandi-östäng, which begins at Jussup Bekning-toghi, after watering the oasis of Tschirik-atlandi, inhabited by half-a-score families, flows eastwards past a little isolated mountain, skirting it on the north, and joins the Kara-jilgha-darja 11/2 km. south of Tschighan-tschöl. It must, however, be a very insignificant rivulet (arik), as it is said to carry only sufficient water to turn two mills. An old channel, which
Hedin, ,journey in Central Asia. 9
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