Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 203 ページ（カラー画像）

0203	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

either of these points and the springs just named, and this makes the use of both routes very difficult
at all seasons except when ice is available at Achchik-bulak and at the similarly named salt springs
on the Deghar route (Map No. 28. c. 4). On this account the route now ordinarily followed from
the Lop portion of the Tārīm to Turfān passes from Singer north-westwards to Ūjme-dong on the
Kara-shahr road, and thus reaches the Turfān depression at Toksun.⁵ Along this devious route
springs of drinkable water are to be found at a number of places (P'o-ch'êng-tzŭ, Kan-so-ho,
Shōr-bulak), and this explains its choice as a line of communication by the Chinese administration.
After the reconquest of Hsin-chiang, rest-houses, now lying in ruins, were maintained along it
for a number of years. For the same reason it also appears probable that even in ancient times
the route connecting Lou-lan directly with Kao-ch'ang and leading north of Singer could have
served for traffic only to a very limited extent.

When crossing the salt-encrusted bed of the dried-up marsh on our start from Ārpishme- Crossing of
bulak on February 21st, I had occasion to observe features which were of interest by reason of dry salt-
their close resemblance to those noticed a year before on our exploration of the ancient Lou-lan encrusted
route where it crossed the dried-up Lop sea-bed.⁶ At first the route led over soft clayey shōr; marsh-bed.
this farther on changed into a hard crust of salt cakes. Across this troublesome belt, fully a mile
wide, traffic, comparatively slight as it is at all times, had worn a winding track, 5 to 6 feet wide in
most places. The big cakes of hard salt had been reduced here to a less rugged surface, and hence
the track offered better going. Within this belt it was curious to notice narrow salt-coated ridges
10 to 15 feet high, very similar in type to those 'White Dragon mounds' which fringe the bed of
the ancient Lop Sea, but on a scale so much larger. Beyond this the crumpled-up salt cakes gave
place to a surface of salt-impregnated lumps of clay with characteristic patches of soft clayey
shōr between, just such as I remembered seeing when we crossed the bay of the dried-up sea north
of Kum-kuduk.⁷ Along the opposite shore of the marsh there stretched a narrow but far extending
belt of live tamarisk-cones and reed-beds. This was fringed again to the south by isolated cones
with only withered roots of tamarisks that had died long ago.

There was no trace of living vegetation on the bare gently rising Sai, first of coarse sand, then Ascent over
of gravel, over which the ascent lay to the third range bordering the basin on the south. Near two bare Sai.
shallow flood-beds, however, I noticed remains of completely decayed dead tamarisks, suggesting
that at an earlier period moisture must have been fairly constant in those beds. After we had
ascended to the top of a broad side spur of the range where red sandstone rocks were cropping out
from the heavy cover of detritus, there lay before us a wide peneplain streaked with low rocky
ledges. A broad Nullah crossing from south to north showed again living tamarisk bushes, and
ascending it we passed the salt spring which Lāl Singh had halted at and marked on his plane-
table. As it lay among low rocky hillocks to the west of the route, we did not see it.⁸

Snow lying in sheltered spots allowed us to halt for the night within five miles of the broad Central
saddle known as Yagach-île-dawān. Over this saddle the almost imperceptible watershed of the range of
third range was crossed next morning at an elevation of about 4,600 feet. From it a wide and Kuruk-
striking view opened across a broad basin to the south, appropriately known as Kizil-sai from the tāgh.
reddish clay and sand at its bottom, and towards the boldly serrated hill range of the Kizil-tāgh,
west of Singer. This, as our surveys show, with its continuations west and east, marks the true
backbone of the western Kuruk-tāgh (Map No. 29. A, B. 2) and contains its greatest elevations.

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ