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

FA-HIEN.

30 J

wenn wir seine Route weiter verfolgen. Nach seiner Angabe darf die Station Yü-mo nicht weit vom Ts ung-ling gesucht werden. Diese Bedingung erfüllt durchaus das jetzige Bazardara, das nur 4o km vom Chiragh-saldi-davan im langgestreckten Tale des Raskem-darya liegt (3 700 m) und eben wegen seiner beherrschenden Lage heute zu einer chinesischen

Grenzstation erhoben ist.'

4. FROM YO-MO TO CHIEH-CH`A.

When the pilgrims had kept their season of retreat at Yü-hui or Yii-nao, which according to Stein took place during the summer of 402 A. D., they went on among

the hills for twenty-five days, and got to Chieli-cit a ... »   It would take us too far to
follow here the ingenious way in which Chavannes has identified Kie-tch`a (Chieh-ch`a) with the present Kashgar. Stein has related Chavannes' arguments, and corroborated them by his own observations on the place.3

As regards the climate and products of Chieh-ch` a as given by Fa-hien, there is nothing that would not agree with what we know from Kashgar. But all other statements oppose this identification. First the remark that the country is cold» is surprising.4 In comparison with Tash-kurgan and the rest of Sarikol it is certainly not cold, neither in summer nor in winter. In all probability it cannot be said to be colder than other cities of Eastern Turkistan. Very much depends upon the season in which Fa-hien came down to Kashgar.5

At Tasll-kzcrbgan he may easily have experienced rather hot days during the summer. At 1 o o'cl. a. m. July 27 th, 1895, I had 19,6° at Tash-kurgan, and 10,3° in the following night. At Hazret Begina, near Kizil on the road from Kashgar to Yarkand, and situated at nearly the same height as Kashgar, I observed a minimum temperature of — 18,3° Dec. i8 th, 1895. Stein refers to the statement in the »Report of a Mission to Yarkand in 1873», where it is said that rice is imported to Kashgar from Aksu and Yarkand districts, as a proof that the climate of Kashgar is not warm enough for cultivating rice on a large scale. But as far as the observation series go the climate of K ashgar is even a trifle warmer than that of Yarkand. The following is the average temperature for every month of the year in Kashgar and Yarkand:

I Cf. DEASY, In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan, London 1901, p. 118-123.

2 Legge's transi., p. 22.

3 Ancient Khotan, p. 67 et seq.

4 HSUAN-CHUANG says regarding Kashgar: »The climate is soft and agreable . . » — Beal, Si-yu-ki,

Vol. II, p. 306.

5 LORD CURZON'S argumentation regarding the itinerary of Fa-hien is much sounder and more reasonable than that of Chavannes. He observes, amongst other things, that Ladak, which is on the extreme eastern fringe, could scarcely be described as in the middle of these mountains, »that Fa-hien's description of the Ts`ung-ling climate and conditions exactly accords with those of the Pamirs: that he employs the same name, Snowy Mountains, as is unmistakably applied by his successor S ung Yün to the main Hindu Kush range, south of Wakhan ; and, that a month after leaving Chieli-ch` a he speaks of having crossed Ts ung-ling, which he could only have done if coming from the north, and which he would nowhere be said to have done if coming from Ladak or Baltistan. It is further to be noted that the remaining Chinese pilgrims, of whose similar journeys the records have been preserved, all travelled on their outward or return journey by the Pamir line; and that there is no contemporary witness to a Karakoram route. I hold, therefore, that Fa-hien did traverse some portion of the Pamir region, though what track he followed, or by what passes he crossed the main range, we have no means of ascertaining ...» — The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus, London 1896, p. 65.