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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

THE ROADS OVER THE TS` UNG-LING.

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turned south and crossed the Hindu-kush in the Hanging Passage (Kanjut). It was probably on this road that the Buddhism and the Gandhara art came to Eastern Turkistan and China. When China began to enter on commercial intercourse with India and Iran (especially from B. C. 114-23 A. D. and 87 —12 7 A. D.), and Chinese silkstuffs were sent over land to the Roman empire, the traffic across the Ts ung-ling mountains was more lively than ever before or later. From the Han Annals Herrmann has collected all that is known of the different Pamir roads joining Ferghana, ancient Bactria and India with Eastern Turkistan, showing that a real network of roads across the Tsung-ling and adjacent mountains was used by armies, caravans and travellers.'

The Wei-lüeh, written in 239-265 A. D., and translated by CHAVANNES, gives the description of three roads over the Ts` ung-ling mountains , which here always are identical with the Pamirs:

Pour ce qui est des chemins qui, partant de Touen-houang et de Yu-men kouan, vont dans les contrées d'occident, il y en avait auparavant deux, mais maintenant il y en a trois. La route du Sud est celle qui, partant de Yü-men kuan, sort du côté de l'Ouest, traverse les Jö K`iang, tourne à l'Ouest, franchit les Ts ong-ling, traverse les passages suspendus et entre chez les Ta Yue tche.

La route du centre est celle qui, partant de Yu-men kouan, sort du coté de l'Ouest, quitte le puits

du Protecteur, revient à l'extrémité septentrionale du (désert de) sable San-long   LS, 0), passe par le

grenier de Kiu-lou Ii   f, puis, à partir du puits de Cha-si   gq 0, tourne vers le Nord-Ouest, passe
par le Long-touei , , arrive à l'ancien Leou-lan, et, tournant vers l'Ouest, arrive à K`ieou-tseu (Koutcha) puis atteint les Ts ong-ling.2

Chavannes identifies the central route of Wei-lüeh with the northern route of the Chien Han-shu.3 But as Herrmann has proved4, this cannot be right. In reality the Central road coincides with the Southern road east of Yü-men kuan to Lou-lan, and, west of a point situated to the west of Yen-ch`i (Karashahr), with the old Northern road; thus there is an additional piece of road joining the Southern and the Northern road. In the Wei-lio the Tsung-ling itself has the same signification as in the two Han Annals.

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(cf.

Pl. la: »The Ts` ung-ling during the Han dynasty» shows the different roads drawn by A. HERRMANN Pauly's Realencyklopädie, Art. Sakai, Bd. III B, p. 1791 et seq.) :

I Ferghana—Terek Pass—Irkeshtam (Yuen-tu)—Kashgar (Su-lo).

2. Balkh (Bactra = Kien-shih?) — Karategin —Alai Valley (Hsiu-hsün) — Taun-murun (Tong-burun) Pass Irkeshtam (Yüen-tu) — Kashgar (Su-lo).

Ptolemy I, 17 et seq. note a side-way through Darwaz, the old country of the Comedae (cf. Pauly's Realenc., Art. Komedai, Bd. IX), and along the Stony-tower, an old-Chinese watch-station in the S. W. of the Alai Valley.

3. Balkh (Bactra = Kien-shih) — Badakhshan (Shuang-mi) — Wakhan (Comari, Hsiu-mi) — dividing into :

1. Great Pamir (?) — Aksu Valley — Bulun köl ? (Wu-lei) — Chicheklik Pass (near P` u-li?) — Yarkand (Soeta = So-chü).

2. Little Pamir (?) — Gujadbai in Sarikol (Wu-ch` a) — Uprang Pass — the upper Yarkand River — Sanju Pass — Kiliang (P` i-shan).

4. Badakhshan (Shuang-mi) -- Kokcha Valley (Amyrgii?) — Bashyul Valley (Caspii?) — Dir (Dyrta) — the lower Swat River (Guraei) — Gandhåra (Chi-pin), s. below, p. 21, note 6, also Pauly's Realenc., Art. Kaspioi 2, Bd. VIII, p. 2274.

5. Gandhara (Chi-pin) — Swat Valley — Dardistån (Daradrae = Nan-tou) — Kanjut (Hanging Passage) — Kilik Pass — Gujadbai in Sarikol (Wu-ch` a) — Uprang Pass — the upper Yarkand River — Sanju Pass —

Kiliang (P` i-shan).

2 Les pays d'occident d'après le Wei-lio.

3 Chavannes, loc. cit. p. 529, note I.

4 Die alten Seidenstraßen, p. 107, note I.

T` oung pao, Série II, Vol. VI, 1905, p. 528 et seq.

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