National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

90

FROM KASHGAR TO THE KHOTAN RIVER   [Chap. III

C. xxvii (E. of). oxo. Frs. of fossilized vegetable matter. Fr. of shell (Limneidae ?) and egg-shell. Gr. M. c. I".

C. xxviI. 011. Stone flake ; hard, black as 015. &c. ; scraper (?). Gr. M. 2".

C. xxVII. 015, 016. Two frs. of worked stone ; irregular shape and rough. Black, with fine granular fracture. Gr. fr. 21" x it" x is". Smaller fr. %t" x is" xis"•

C. xxvn. 017. Fr. of worked stone ; black flint (?) ; irregular lump. Gr. M. fr.

C. xxvn. o18. Pebble, water-worn and sand-corroded ; mottled grey and cream ; has appearance of partially disintegrated gneiss. 1" x i"xis"

C. xxvii. 019. Fr. of worked (?) stone ; pinkish brown ; granular fracture, as C. xxvrl (E. of). o6. Irregular shape. Gr. M. I ".

C. xxvn. 020. Fr. of stone ; fine, hard, black ; granular

fracture, as 015, &c.   Irregular shape (accidentally
broken ?). Gr. M. r-6".

C. xxviI. o21-7. Seven frs. of worked stone ; horn-colour to red. Irregular shape, some appearing to be accidentally broken rather than worked. 024 sand-worn. Gr. M. (027)

C. xxvii. 028-30. Three frs. of stone ; hard, grey. 029 shows striated curved furrows on under (i. e. concave) side ; 030 sand-worn on one side. Gr. fr. (029) IA" x (gr. width) i".

C. xxvn. 031. Stone flake (blade) ; long narrow,

yellowish grey, single-ribbed ; two-edged.   Ends also
probably worked ; fine granular fracture. I ~" x " x

C. xxvii. 032-3. Two stone flakes (frs. of blades), narrow ; 032 with pyramidal ridge ; 033 flat on lower surface which is longitudinally concave ; single-edged ; relatively broad back ; both back and edge retouched. Bulk at upper end where flake is broad ; tapering downwards and broken in narrowest part showing almost equilateral-triangular section. Deep brown flint ; sand-worn. Cf. C. xxv. 03. I" x A" at broadest part.

C. xxvn. 034-5. Two stone flakes (frs. of blades), narrow ; 034 hard black stone of fine grain, with double

ridge.   I" x 6" ; 035 horn-coloured flint, semi-trans-
parent, slightly curved. ia" x â".

C. xxvii. 036-7. Two frs. of stone flakes ; black and red flint (?) resp. Indeterminate. Gr. M. f".

C. xxviI. 038-40. Three frs. of worked stone ; hard, black, of fine grain, as o8, ou, 015, &c. 039 shows bulb of percussion ; 040 roughly crescent-shaped, with broad rough back opposite edge. Gr. fr. (04o) 1" x I" x i s

Return to Yarkand river.

Marches through riverine jungle belt.

SECTION IV.—PAST THE MAZAR-TAGH OF KHOTAN

Baulked in my attempt to strike for the Khotan Mazàr-tagh straight through the Taklamakân, I decided to reach it by the nearest practicable route along the Yarkand and Khotan rivers. By the third day of our return march from amidst those formidable sand ` Dawans ' we had gained the east flank of the Chok-tâgh, where fortunately a bare stony ` Sai ', intervening between the foot of the rugged hills and a huge ridge of sand on the east, offered easy going. It was doubly welcome in the blizzard that had met us just as we got clear of the dunes. Crossing thence a last offshoot of the Chok-tagh, we gained the Yarkand river (Fig. 79) near a water-mill visited by people of Chigan-chöl, a large village in the direction of Tumshuk. There we forded the river, and after a long day's tramp through the luxuriant riverine jungle of the left bank were so lucky as to secure ponies from grazing grounds of Chigan-chöl. They enabled me to push ahead of our camel caravan, with which I left the Surveyor, and by four rapid marches (November 5-8), through hitherto unsurveyed jungle tracts,•to reach the extreme south-western edge of the cultivated zone of Ak-su.

The first three marches from Tushkan-chöl, C. xxxi, led through portions of the wide jungle belt that follows the Yarkand river (Maps 8. c. I ; 7. c, D. I), in which tracts of forest abounded, living and composed mostly of wild poplars. The track we followed, not without difficulty owing to inadequate guidance, approached the vicinity of the winding main river-bed only in a few places. But water was obtained at our camping places near Kapa-jainak and Kelpin-satma from a large bed known as Arpa-akin, which during the summer floods receives the surplus of the waters discharged by the Yarkand river into the great marsh area south of Tumshuk. This bed reunites with the main Yarkand river above the conspicuous sand hillock known as Acha-dong (Map No. 7.