According to Visscher Hiarchan or Yarkand, remains on the upper Ganges, while Cascar still belongs to the upper Sir-darya. If Marco Polo, who visited the three corners in the Tarim triangle, Kashgar, Yarkand, and Lop, had only made an annotation of three or four words about the Tarim basin and its main river, the classical Oechardes, the chief mistakes of 400 years in Central Asian cartography could have been avoided. As on Witsen's map Turfan appears in two editions, one, Toerfana, north of lake Bervan, the other, Turpan, on the upper Hwangho.
More interesting than anything else on de Witt's map are the three wandering lakes, the traces of which we have to follow up until they disappear or lead to a real goal. Lake Siba, Witsen's invention, is there, and near it, though separated by a high mountain range, is lake Bervan, which we first saw on Cantelli's map, Pl. XXXIII. The third is our old Chiamay lacus, this phantom lake which has defended its ground against human knowledge ever since 155o, and remains on the maps of 150 years as a monument of human credulity. And here also Witsen's example is followed and the lake called Coconor. Of Grueber's route from Lhasa to Benares only the word Necbal remains.
The last map of the seventeenth century of which I give a reproduction, Pl. XXXVI, is the one by CORONELLI 1695.' Here the Ganges, though meridional, has been brought down to a more reasonable length. He has any amount of names for the Himalayas: Monti Cocas, 6 Cochias, Albsor, Adazar, e Salatto; Caucasus Strab. et Plin. Caucasia Rupes Ptol. Strobilus Arriano. Cascar or Kashgar, Peim and Chotan are better placed than before, though there is also a Cotan S.E. of Lago di Beruan. N.E. of Cascar is Lop, and east of it Acsu. Yarkand has disappeared from the upper Ganges, and so has »Chaparangute». But the city which on Cantelli's map (Pl. XXXIII), was simply called Beruan,` has now also the name Chaurana, which may be a new version of the Caparangue of Andrade, the Kaparange of Witsen, the Chaprang, Tsaprang, or Tsaparang as it is now called by different travellers. I do not know what information Coronelli has got. If his Chaurana is really Tsaparang, and if he has heard, perhaps, from some missionary in Goa, that the town was situated west of a lake, his map indicates that the Lago di Beruan is Manasarovar. When dealing with Edrisi we came to the same conclusion regarding his lake Berwan. On the other hand, the Siba lacus has been rejected.
North of the Himalaya, which is indicated only by its several names, we have Thibet, Tobbot, or Tobbat, very correctly placed in relation to India. Turquestan and Vachun are parts of Tibet. The town Thibet is again Leh and Ladak.
The eastern parts are wisely taken from Martini, but there is no Koko-nor at all. Yet Chiamay lacus is there. The great desert has, as on some previous maps,
I Asia Diuisa nelle sue Parti secondo lo stato presente, Descritta, ... dal P. M. Coronelli .. . It is published in Atlante Veneto, Nel quale si contiene la descrittione geografica, storica, sacra, profana, e politica, Degl' Imperij, Regni, ... Dell' Universo, ... Opera e studio del Padre Maestro Coronelli ... Tomo 1. Venetia 1695.
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