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

e

ti~ +`'..

~

from Marál-báshi. After inspecting a few ancient sites an attempt to cross the

desert had to be abandoned at the end of several days owing to the exhaustion of

the camels. Returning to Khotan a fresh start was made with the Lop desert as

goal. The caravan route between the foot of the Ktun-lun and the Taklamakán

was followed. With periods of halt at certain sites Niya, Endere, Charchan,

Vash-shahri, Charkhlik, and Mirán—all contributing fresh material, the last

yielding the painted dado reproduced in plate iii, the route led towards the desert

sites of Lou-lan, many of which were investigated. In an ancient cemetery the

contents of the graves included wonderfully preserved figured silks, dating back to

Han times, with designs of weird animals prowling through scrolling clouds.'

The journey was continued north of Lou-lan and across the salt-encrusted dry bed

of the ancient inland sea of Lop to the oasis of Altmish-bulak. After the very trying

time in the desert a much-needed four days' rest was taken and preparations made

for a further desert journey in search of the ancient Chinese trade route, `the Route

of the Centre', between Lou-lan and Tun-huang. The references to this route in

Chinese records were too vague to afford any real guidance and the desert through

which it lay `had long before the dawn of historical times ceased to offer any

possibilities of human occupation', but the `early Chinese wayfarers peopled

those forbidding wastes with "plenty of demons and strange beings" '. On 25

February 1914 the expedition set out. Absorbing incidents of this journey, when

in spite of forbidding conditions the route was traced beyond doubt, are fully

recorded in Innermost Asia. From the severe sufferings of the camels, sympatheti-

cally recorded, the endurance of the human members of the caravan can be

inferred.

At Tun-huang and even before reaching that oasis, definite traces of the old

defensive Chinese wall were found and followed for a long distance, running

parallel with the Su-lo-ho river and turning north-east along the course of the

Etsin-gol. Nearing the delta of this river, which discharges into a lake, the ruined

site of Khara-khoto, lying a short distance to the east, was visited and explored.

Many of the ruins had been thoroughly examined by the Russian explorer,

Colonel Kozlov, in 1908 and very many manuscripts and other remains were

carried by him to Russia. But much remained, and Stein found numbers of

extremely interesting drawings and prints on paper, now in the British Museum,

I Cf. Andrews: Ancient Chinese Figured Silks. Reprinted Vol. III, plates XXXII—XLII. from the Burlington Magazine, and Stein: Innermost Asia,

X