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0444 On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 / Page 444 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000214
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254 FROM ETSIN-GOL TO TIEN-SHAN CH. XVI

interesting to me to observe a curious if faint reflex of those great tribal movements in the numerous camps of Muhammadan Kazaks, fine men of Turki speech and Kirghiz race, whom the Mongols had driven south under Chinese protection after they had secured the `independence' (under Russian auspices) of Outer Mongolia. It was instructive, too, to note the studious care taken by the Chinese authorities to restrict as far as possible the movements of these nomadic guests and thus to guard against the risk of great currents of migration being started.

Winter had already begun to set in when we reached the town of Barkul, and the shelter of its oldest temple (Fig. I i 6), where we found quarters close to an important epigraphic record of Han times, was very welcome after the icy blasts we had encountered since the Pei-shan. Then after passing through Guchen, a centre of caravan trade towards China and Mongolia, I visited and surveyed near Jimasa the remains, extensive but badly decayed, which mark the site of the ancient capital of this territory. Under the names of Chin-man and Pei-ting it often figures in the history of Chinese domination in Central Asia. The economic and political connexion of this part of Dzungaria with the important oases of the Turfan basin to the south had been a very close one from an early historical period.

Turfan was to be the field for my winter's labours, and I was glad to reach it by the most direct route, hitherto unsurveyed. It led me across a rugged portion of the Tienshan range rising to numerous snowy peaks by a pass close on 12,o feet. The journey confirmed once more the accuracy of the early Chinese itineraries in which this route is described. At the same time it brought home in a striking