Innermost Asia : vol.1 / Page 300 (Color Image)

0300	Innermost Asia : vol.1

is easy to understand if we bear in mind that the effects of wind-erosion in the ancient delta of the
Lop Desert, as measured by the depth of the Yārdang trenches, grow distinctly less as we proceed
farther south, i. e. farther away from ground lying close to the foot of the Kuruk-tāgh glacis.
This difference in the result of the wind's erosive action may itself, I believe, be safely attributed
to the fact that the sand which serves as the abrading instrument in that action is a more powerful
factor northward, where it consists of coarse grains swept down from the gravel glacis of the Kuruk-
tāgh, than in the south, where it is made up mainly of locally disintegrated loess dust.

Crossing
of ancient
river-bed. Less than two miles beyond the place where was found the above-mentioned bronze ornament,
we came upon a depression winding from WNW. to ESE. and marking an unmistakable ancient
river-bed (Fig. 143). Among the rows of dead Toghraks which were to be traced on either side of
it, some trunks still stood upright, as seen in the background of the photograph. The width of
the bed was about 150 yards, and the divergence of its direction from that which the Yārdang
trenches invariably follow made it easily recognizable. The line of high tamarisk-cones that we
passed in 1906, just before finding the first relics of the Han period,¹⁴ lay exactly in the continuation
of this dry river-bed to the WNW.¹⁵ Not far from the north bank of it we picked up a well-preserved
iron awl, C. xciii. 011.¹⁶

Finds of
coins and
metal
objects. Beyond this the ground was cut up into a maze of short Yārdang trenches, reaching a depth
of 10 feet or so, as shown by the photographs (Figs. 141, 142) taken at a point about eight and
a half miles marching distance from Camp xciii. Here three Chinese coins of the Han type were
picked up in quick succession. One is an inscribed Wu-chu piece ; another a much-clipped specimen
of the same ; while the third, also clipped, still shows a trace of the legend Huo-ch'üan, introduced
by the usurper Wang Mang about the time of Christ. Half a mile farther on, after passing an ancient
river-bed, much effaced, with rows of dead trees all lying on its banks,¹⁷ we entered ground that had
been much eroded and was almost bare of ancient vegetation. This for about three miles yielded
finds of worked stones, miscellaneous fragments of metal objects, glass beads and potsherds in
abundance. To the north the horizon was bounded by a line of high tamarisk-cones. But when
after about twelve miles' march I climbed an isolated cone about 30 feet high at some little distance
from this line, the familiar Stūpa of the Lou-lan station L.A., together with the neighbouring
ruins, could be seen quite clearly to the NNE. The glow of the setting sun was reflected by them
just as it was by the towers of the Tun-huang Limes when I searched for them years before on my
second journey. It was a great relief to be assured once again by that landmark that we had steered
a true course across this dead and desolate desert.

Line of
tamarisk-
cones along
dry bed. The line of close-set dead tamarisk-cones, 20–30 feet in height, proved on close approach to
mark an unmistakable river-bed (Fig. 144), with a fringe of dead Toghraks, many of them still
upright, on either bank. The bed, running approximately from west by south to east, was 16 to
18 feet deep and measured 146 yards in width where we crossed it. Low dunes covered its bottom
in places, and here and there small tamarisk-cones, all dead, rose within it. They had obviously

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

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

Citation Information

OCR Text

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