THE LAND OF WITHERING RIVERS 213
to changes in the water supply, extend beyond the present flood limit for over twenty miles. Dead tamarisks and poplars extend nearly as far. It is evident that the size of the river has decreased greatly.
Two days' journey east of Yartungaz, we came to the hamlet of Endereh, on the Endereh River. In exploring the surrounding country, I found that here, too, we have most convincing evidence of a change of climate. To-day, the entire population supported by the river amounts to about eighty. A little land is cultivated with much difficulty because of the salt, but the main business is the herding of sheep. To live by agriculture would be impossible. Yet in ancient Buddhist times, a dense population dwelt along the eastern side of the river for a distance of at least fifteen miles north and south, and an indefinite distance east and west. Pottery, bones, and stones brought by man abound, as I discovered, in the northern part of this area; while forts, houses, temples, and gardens are scattered over an area of many square miles to the south. As the ruins are situated two hundred and fifty miles east of Khotan, there can be scarcely any doubt that they are identical with the Tuholo of Hwen Tsiang, and the Mo and Han-mo of his predecessor, Sung-yun. These places are located nine hundred li, that is, from two hundred and forty to two hundred and sixty miles, east of Khotan. Sung-yun, in 518 A. D., speaks of the city of Mo, six miles west of which lies the city of Han-mo. Three or four miles south of the latter, there was in his day a large temple with about three hundred priests, worshipers of a golden figure of Buddha eighteen feet high. Hwen Tsiang, in 644 A. D., says that " the old kingdom of
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