IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
THE JUMALAK-DARJA TO TOKUS-KUM. I 15
left we passed the small lake of Ukar-tokkan-köl, apparently fed by overflow water. North of it stretch the sandy belts of Peghan-kum or Palevan-kum, Bel-kum, and Jaman-osa, and on the other side of them the Atschik-darja makes its way northeastwards to Süsük.
Lower down we left on the right Kara-tschilan, a Lop village, with several clay houses, and wheat-fields watered by a canal from the Kara-akin. This stream continues on towards the east, leaving on the left the Tüplik-köl and, further along, the Partschalik-köl. North of this, and quite close to the right bank of the Jumalakdarja, lies the lake, or rather marsh, of Toghralik-köl, apparently a depression, tem-
porarily filled with overflow water, for there are poplars growing in it. The spaces between these lakes are filled with strips of sand and tamarisks. South of the Kara-akin there is an old watercourse, the Tschighanlik, which lower down coalesces with the Kara-akin, and is said to contain a few pools in its lower extremity.
The next name on the left bank is Buja-tscheke. A short connecting channel
links together the river and the lake of Jäkänlik-köl, and near the latter is a belt of sand known as Musa-utschanghan-kum. Several roads radiate from the village of Kakde. For instance, one crosses the river to Bughur, whence another leads to Schah-jar; yet two other roads connect the first-named with Dural, lower down the river, one running along each bank, that on the left bank passing through Karaul. The village of Kakde is inhabited by seven families, the wealthiest of which owns
2,000 sheep, the next wealthiest 500 and the rest about i oo each.
These Lopliks live to a very great extent upon fish, which they catch in nets
in the marginal lagoons that are cut off from connection with the river, and also in the small bays which are formed on the inside of the lower part of each alluvial deposit. They cultivate, in addition, wheat, maize, and melons. Their irrigation water they draw, not from the big river, but from the Kara-akin, which flows close past the village. Some thirty years ago the principal man of the village, Muhamed Karaultschi, put a dam across this stream, and so turned the high-water (end of July to beginning of September) into his own canals, whence it is distributed over his fields. The dam requires repair almost every year. The villagers possess their jajlaks, or »summer grazing, beside the lake of Dschindar-köl, where they have built themselves some slight summer huts. The old man had in his time killed there no less than seven tigers. All the riverine population below Koral-dung are subject to the amban, or Chinese governor, of Dural. Their fiscal obligations do not consist in the payment of taxes in hard cash, but in rendering contributions in natura, such as sheep, fish, tiger skins, and firewood. Thus the inhabitants of Kakde are a versatile people — keepers of sheep, agriculturists, and fishermen all at one and the same time, and yet they are, as it were, semi-nomads, in that they dwell at a different place in summer from what they do in winter. Similar conditions are found amongst the riverine population lower down, only there agriculture and sheep-breeding are less important, while fishing may be considered as the mainstay of their livelihood.
At Kakde the prevailing winds are said to blow from the west, and early in the spring the atmosphere, which then grows thick and heavy, begins to discharge quantities of fine dust — the same phenomena that I observed beside the Kerijadarja in the early spring of 1896. At this time many of the sheep get »strangles»,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.