Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 207 ページ（カラー画像）

0207	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

be located,²⁰ the conclusion imposes itself that in Li Tao-yüan's *Mo-shan* we have again a reference
to the westernmost Kuruk-tāgh.

SECTION II.—TO P'O-CH'ÊNG-TZŬ AND SHINDI

On February 24th I left Singer for P'o-ch'êng-tzŭ, once a station on the route towards Toksun, March to
the very name of which suggested the presence of ancient remains, of which I had also heard P'o-ch'êng-
reports. Almost the whole of the day's march of about 27 miles led over the gravel glacis of the tzŭ.
main range stretching west of Singer. But this fact exhibited all the more clearly the change in
vegetation due to the moister climatic conditions in the hills to the south. Though our track
gradually drew away from the boldly serrated range to the south known as Kizil-tāgh, scrub and
tamarisk brushwood were to be found on almost every part of this Sai. Scattered groups of wild
poplars were also met with until we crossed the deep-cut bed of a small stream coming from Tatlik-
bulak, 'the fresh spring' (Map No. 29. A. 1). From the higher level over which our route led
it was easy to see that this belt of ampler vegetation extended right across to the foot of the long
flat-topped hill chain on the north, which Muḥammad Bāqir knew as the Khawurga-tāgh. A gap
in it to the north-west marked the point where the drainage from the main range breaks through
it near the spring of Tunguzluk. After about 19 miles had been covered we passed a big isolated
elm (*kara-yagach*) rising as a conspicuous route-mark. Seven miles farther on we struck the bed
of a small ice-covered stream stretching down amidst luxuriant tamarisk jungle from the high
massif of the Hsi-ta-shan, which was dimly visible to the south. Here we found the ruin of the
Chinese station of P'o-ch'êng-tzŭ, abandoned years ago and now temporarily tenanted by a Turfānlik
who with his three sons was working a lead pit among the foot-hills of the Hsi-ta-shan.

That the place had served in former times also for smelting operations was proved by a number Remains of
of slag heaps and roughly constructed furnaces which we passed next morning when proceeding ruined fort.
along the western edge of neglected fields to the ruins reported. They occupy the top of a small
rocky ridge rising about 50 feet above the left bank of the stream and about half a mile to the north
of the abandoned station. The remains are those of a small fort enclosing in the shape of an irregular
polygon an area about 80 yards from east to west and half as much across. The walls, built of
roughly cut slabs of clay (*kisek*), are about 3 feet thick and best preserved to the west and south-
west, while to the east they have completely disappeared. There are remains of roughly built
square towers at several of the corners and also near a gap in the northern face which seems to
mark the position of a gate. Near the eastern edge of the little plateau pieces of lead ore and
smelting refuse showed that the place had been occupied at a time when the lead mine in the
hills to the south was being worked. No relics furnishing chronological evidence could be found ;
but the general appearance of the ruined circumvallation suggested considerable age.

Though the stream of P'o-ch'êng-tzŭ, except at the time of rain floods, does not flow more than Stream of
two or three miles farther, yet the wide bed it has cut could be made out clearly from the plateau P'o-ch'êng-
as far as the previously mentioned gap near Tonguzluk. To the south the ravine (*akin*) in which tzŭ.
the stream rises was seen to descend from the mouth of a well-marked valley, the *Chong-aghiz*,
on the flank of the Hsi-ta-shan massif, and to be bordered by a broad belt of vegetation. A number
of springs rising in this belt feed the stream, which below the ruined station carried at the time of
my visit fully 2½ cubic feet of water per second. This would permit of the cultivation of a con-
siderably larger area than is irrigated at Singer. Yet the badly neglected fields of P'o-ch'êng-tzŭ,
watered by a separate spring well above the level of the stream, cover only about three acres.

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
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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