IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Across Asia : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
C. G. MANNERHEIM
etiquette and allowed me to see his treasure. The general's wife and her sister came pattering in on their tiny feet, crossed their hands over their stomachs with a slight bow in sign of greeting and disappeared again without saying a word. Just like a couple of horses or dogs that their owner was proud of. The old man was evidently pleased by my words of praise and innocently enquired whether I thought that he or the Djentai Tang at Aqsu had the lovelier wife.
The village of Shang tchy shang appeared on the left and a mile from the turn of the road we rode through a belt of trees in which the village of Gobijenza stands. The village is on the eastern edge of the tilled land. Here a gravel plain started that led us by a scarcely perceptible ascent in a SE direction. The ascent ceased 3 miles later and about 2/3 of a mile further there was grass growing in small tufts. i i /3 to 12/3 miles beyond, the gravel changed to sand and the ground went in mounds. Reeds began to occur and gradually became thicker until 2 i /2 miles further on we reached the village of Ikoshuor with a mixed population of Sarts and Chinese. Here the road over Langar joined ours. After warming ourselves in one of the houses we continued in a SE direction and reached our camping ground an hour later. A severe snowstorm in the mountains had enveloped them entirely in clouds and robbed us of the beautiful sight that I had enjoyed for months. During this day's journey I could not distinguish the mountain that is marked on the 40 verst map in a NW direction just E of Hami.
In Hwang-lung-Kang there are 4 large sarais, a mapoza station and a dozen houses. Wheat, tchinkho and peas are grown. The yield is 6-8 fold. The soil is saliferous. There are 8o cows and oxen, 20 horses and 8—goo sheep. The snow lies from December to February, up to z /4 arshin in depth. Burans from the E are common in winter and summer.
October3lst. Yesterday's east wind continued to-day with unabated fury. A clear sky and warm
Chang-liu- • sunshine, however, counteracted the penetrating cold to some extent. The road continued
shui station. in a SE direction across the same reed-covered ground. The soil was saliferous, but the reeds less thick than yesterday, especially between Ikoshuor and Hwang-lung-Kang, where they are tall and comparatively dense. Here and there spiky, low grass took the place of the reeds and once or twice we noticed bushes. About 30 li from our starting place we saw the ruins of a sarai or some other retreat, otherwise there was nothing of note. In the NNE we could for the last time enjoy the sight of the snow-covered range of the Tian Shan mountains which, after having dropped very much E of Köshety or the Tian Shan pass, rose again in undiminished majesty. The local people give them the name of Baghdash. To the E the mountains drop very rapidly and become quite small. The road led us relentlessly away from these bright mountains towards the desert, on the edge of which the Chang-liu-shui station lies. The ground descends here quite suddenly towards a low-lying belt of gravel running in an E —W direction. From the edge of an area covered with reeds an extensive view is obtained over the enormous plain of gravel, the uneven, greyish-black surface of which produces an impression of imposing seriousness. Far to the south there is a hazy dark ribbon that looks like mountains. We rode down the short slope to a group of 5 sarais, a temple, a mapoza station and a picket of 5 cavalrymen.
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