Innermost Asia : vol.1 / 138 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0138	Innermost Asia : vol.1
極奥アジア : vol.1

to Marāl-bāshi and thence to strike across the desert to the Khotan river by the nearest route
which might prove practicable. As far as Marāl-bāshi I proposed to follow the foot of the barren
hill chain which here forms the southernmost rampart of the T'ien-shan. Two reasons combined
to make me choose this route. The first was that this range almost throughout its length from
the hills north of Ārtush to south of the Kelpin oasis (Maps Nos. 5. A–D. 1; 8. A. 1; 7. A, B. 4) had
as yet remained practically unsurveyed, as appears from the portion of Dr. Hassenstein's map
of the Tārīm basin that includes it.⁴ The other reason was archaeological and had its origin in
reports first heard at Marāl-bāshi in 1908 and again later on the Kāshgar side.⁵ These seemed
to indicate that an old route, now but vaguely remembered in local lore, had during some earlier
period skirted the foot of that chain and been used for traffic instead of the present Chinese 'high
road', or more correctly cart track, leading much farther south along the actual course of the
Kāshgar river.

March to
Āstin-
Ārtush. Having previously dispatched all baggage that was not immediately needed by trader's
caravan to Khotan, I took the precaution, as I expected water to be scarce, of reducing my party
still further by sending Surveyor Muḥammad Yāqūb along the high road to await me at Marāl-
bāshi. Accompanied by Afrāz-gul Khān and Naik Shamsuddīn I set out myself to the north-
east. The first day's short march brought us through fertile ground, which I had already seen
in 1900, to Sedir in the canton of Bēsh-karīm. Passing again the well-known shrine of Bū-Mairyam
and sighting beyond Eski the Stūpa ruin of Maurī-tim which had been surveyed in the same
year,⁶ we then made our way to the large oasis of Āstin-Ārtush (Map 5. A. 1). Its famous Ziārat
of Sultān Boghra Khān has been visited and described by the Forsyth Mission.⁷ We passed
it as darkness fell, on our way to our night's quarters at a large farm at Wakwak, not far from the
eastern end of the cultivated zone of Ārtush.

Along
terminal
course of
Ārtush
river. On October 11th a long march brought us to Kalta-yailak, a narrow and far-stretching belt
of hamlets, which forms the terminal oasis of the river of Ārtush. Almost the whole of our route
led over desert ground near the foot of the outermost hill range. The big bends in which the
river winds here eastwards indicate the almost level nature of this ground. There is no marked
glacis along the foot of this range, and as a consequence former river-beds and marsh-beds still
liable to inundation from the south approach close to it. These were subsequently found to be
characteristic features of the whole of the ground traversed by us on the way to Marāl-bāshi.
It presents a striking contrast with the wide glacis slopes of piedmont gravel that everywhere
edge the foot of the K'un-lun range on the opposite side of the Tārīm basin. This contrast is clearly
due to an essential difference in the morphology of the two mighty ranges which form the north
and south rims of that basin, and therefore may here receive passing mention. The surveys carried
out by Lāl Singh in 1908 and 1915 among the outer hill chains of that portion of the T'ien-shan
which lies between the longitudes of Kelpin (Map No. 7. B. 3) and Kāshgar may be of use to others
more competent than myself to follow up the point.

Site at
Duldul-
ōkur. I had previously received information about some old remains at the very foot of the outer-
most hills, and consequently left the track leading to Kalta-yailak beyond the river crossing of
Kichik-langar.⁸ After passing over a desolate plain covered with scanty scrub and much salt

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