Sec. v] RUINS BY THE SU-LO HO MARSHES 577
river of Tun-huang, we reached in the dark a spring-fed pool known to the Lopliks as Yantakkuduk.
After leaving, on March 11, this convenient halting-place, we moved over an absolutely bare gravel ` Sai', unbroken in its sterile uniformity except by two dry flood-beds, until after about seventeen miles we almost suddenly stepped across the edge of Tun-huang cultivation. Close to it I halted for the night near a small Chinese hamlet, and next morning my camp was moved to outside the walled town of Tun-huang Hsien, which was destined to become the base for my antiquarian operations of the next three months.
IIIF Color HighRes
