THE LOWER TSCHERTSCHEN-DARJA. 383
to this are the administrative provinces, the name Alti-schahr or Jäti-schahr for the whole of East Turkestan, the name Lop, and the names of the rivers. But, on the other hand, the mighty range of the Kwen-lun has no Turkish name: Tokus-davan, Astin-tagh, and Arka-tagh apply only to separate parts of it.
But the sand soon retires from the river, making way for steppe. On the right there is a terrace, marking a former position of the right bank. The road touches repeatedly the windings of the river. The existing right bank is very distinctly scarped, and generally about 3 m. high, and below it lies the low, flat riverbed, overgrown with kamisch, through which the river winds. Marshes and lakes are quite common, though all were frozen over, buried under snow, and frequently overgrown with reeds; one of these was the Tschong-köl named above. Every now and again the river hugs one or other of its banks, and in such places it was still free from ice. On the right we passed the little lake of Usun-köl, which sends off an easily recognisable arm to join the river, though it was then dry. The region is poorly supplied with dry fuel, yet such as it is, it is collected and carried to Tschertschen on the backs of donkeys.
On 31st January there was a violent north-east wind, which decidedly made itself felt, for the temperature never rose above — I 1° C. The path runs close beside the river, following all its windings, so that it is somewhat longer than the road on the left bank. We were no longer able to see the southern sandy desert; but we could see very distinctly the scarped terraces or containing banks standing ten or twenty meters back from the existing lower banks. Tamarisks and kamisch are abundant, but poplars both few in number and widely scattered. The localities with names are Baliklik-köl, Issik-otak, Supa-dung, Kara-kürütsch-aghil, Pakpak-toghrak, and Kischlak-aghil. During the day we passed some dry ravines, which are said to drain marshes situated farther south, and which are in their turn formed by temporary streams coming from the mountains. At Kona-tatran we crossed the river, which was Ito m. broad and frozen to the bottom, so that we were unable to obtain any water for our supper except by melting ice. The village I have just named was deserted eighty years ago, because the river water would no longer flow into its irrigation channels; the ruins of four of its houses are still standing. At the place where we crossed the river, in order to encamp on the same spot as before at Kenglajka, the right bank was 2 m. high, and the left bank had a gentle slope.
The problem which I set myself whilst thus returning to our head-quarters at Jangi-köl was to look for the old bed of the Tschertschen-darja, that Roborovskij speaks of. With this object I engaged a couple of trustworthy guides, whose first business it was to explain the presence of the two old river-beds we had crossed. They told me that the more southerly one joins the river immediately below Kenglajka, while the more northerly one continues to the region of Su-ösgen. The latter is said to originate in the district of Japtschanlik-köl, a lake situated about one potaj below Tägirmän-baschi (between Tschertschen and Tatran), and about I'/2 km. from the river; it is fed by springs, which in turn derive possibly from irrigation-canals that issue from the Tschertschen. My guides knew of no old watercourse on the left of the
river below Su-ösgen; it was all sand. I had originally intended penetrating a few .
days into the desert, but abstained, partly because of the camels, partly because of
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