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THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF MOUNTAINS IN CENTRAL ASIA.

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the Oxus and showed the road through Eastern Turkistan and over the Pamir passes; then he opened the commercial intercourse between east and west, which in such an enormous degree developed the geographical knowledge of the Chinese. Some wise emperors of the Han dynasty (B. C. 206— 220 A. D.) understood how to encourage both the connection with the western world and the geographical exploration of Central Asia, more especially the Tarim Basin, which in greater degree than other countries came under their influence.= Three works from those times have brought down detailed information of the greater parts of Central Asia; namely the Shih-chi of SSÚ-MA CH`IEN, who died about B. C. 85, and who relates the narrative of Chang Ch`ien's journey 2, - the Chien Han-shu or Annals of the earlier Han (B. C. 206-24 A. D.) with its information regarding the Western countries (Hsi-yü s), and the Hou Han-shu, or Annals of the later Han dynasty (25-220 A. D.) with its additional remarks to the older Han Annals. From these works we get a very good idea of the geographical knowledge of the Chinese during the Han dynasty.

2. IDENTIFICATION OF THE TS`UNG-LING.

The book of the Ch` ien Han-shu , which especially interests us in this connection, has been translated by A. WYLIE. The following extract assists us in the attempt to identify the Ts ung-ling mountains. Of the 36 kingdoms then situated in the Tarim Basin the Han Annals tell3:

On the west it is limited by the Ts`ung-ling. The Southern Mountains (Altyn-tagh) commence

on the east from Chin-ch`eng     pit (Lan-chou), and are connected with the southern hills of China.
The Ho (River) has two sources, one of which rises in the Ts ung-ling mountains (Kashgar-darya), the other in Yü-t`ien (Khotan). Khotan lies at the foot of the Southern Mountain, and the river runs northward till it joins its confluent from the Ts` ung-ling, and then flows eastward into the P u-ch` ang

Sea4   p, N, which is also called the Salt Marsh.

Here the 7s`ung-ling mountains are placed west of Eastern Turkistan. The Allyntagh, the northern branch of the Kwenlun, forms the southern boundary of the eastern part of the Taring Basin, though Khotan also seems to be placed at the base of the mountains. The location of the Ts` ung-ling is further defined by the information that both the Kashgardarya and the Yarkand-darya take their rise from this system.

In how far the name of that time was bound to the western mountains is already proved by the observation that the Ts`ung-ling is not mentioned at all in the adjoining mountainous regions to the north and south, viz., first on the line from Wen-su (Uch-Turfan) to the Wu-sun, on Issik-köl. and secondly from P`i-shan (on the Kiliang River to the west of Khotan) viâ Wu-ch`a to North-western Indian. Regarding this last-mentioned

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the Han period to the end of the 7 `ang is to be found at the end of this Vol., viz., in a list of the same names according to the system of Prof. KARLGREN, Göteborg.

I YULE, Cathay, I, p. 35. A. HERRMANN, Die alten Seidenstraßen zwischen China und Syrien (Sieglins Quellen und Forschungen zur alten Geschichte und Geographie, Heft 21), I. Abt., Berlin 191o. Also his Dissertation, Göttingen 1910.

2 New translation by F. HIRTH, The Story of Chang Rien, China's Pioneer in Western Asia; Journal of Journ. the American Oriental Society, Vol. 37, New Haven 1917, pp. 89-152.

3 A. WYLIE, Notes on the Western Regions. Translated from the Tsëen Han Shoo, Book 96, Part 7. Anthr. Inst. of Gr. Br. and Irel., Vol. X, London 1881, p. 20.

4 The original name instead of Wylie's modern appellation Lake Lob. A. H. s Ibidem, 1881, p. 37; 1882, p. 83.