Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 248 ページ（カラー画像）

0248	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

site, until the Tārim's diversion into its present course in comparatively modern times. This theory
could not be reconciled either with what our surveys had shown of the well-defined delta of the
Kuruk-daryā traceable over a considerable area to the south and east of the Lou-lan site, or, what
seemed even more significant, with early and definite data regarding the hydrography of this region
furnished by an important Chinese record, not accessible to Dr. Hedin when his theory was formed,
I mean the very interesting account which M. Chavannes has extracted and translated from
Li Tao-yüan's commentary on the Shui ching in the 'Note additionnelle' to his masterly analysis
of the Wei lio's notice of the 'Western countries'.² I have fully discussed in Serindia the state-
ments contained in Li Tao-yüan's work, which was composed some time not later than A. D. 527,
the date of the author's death, but undoubtedly embodies much information relating to earlier
periods of Chinese relations with the Tārim basin.³ A brief review, however, of those statements
which have a direct bearing on the question of the Kuruk-daryā and its connexion with the Konche-
daryā appears necessary here, all the more that they also help to throw light on the ruined site
described in the preceding section.

Li Tao-
yüan's
' River of
the South '. With regard to the passage which interests us here it has to be noted that it follows an account
which has been left untranslated by M. Chavannes, but which, according to a note furnished by
him, treats of the 'River of the North', i. e. of the rivers of Kāshgar and Yārkand. Preceding
that account we have in the commentary a long and interesting description of the course of the
'River of the South', i. e. of the river of Khotan, which in its terminal portion is said to unite
itself with the river of Charchan and then flowing eastwards to pass north of Shan-shan into 'the
lake of Lao-lan'. When discussing this description at length in Serindia,⁴ I believe that I have
conclusively shown that by this terminal course of the 'River of the South' Li Tao-yüan means
a course approximately corresponding to that of the present Tārim, where it flows south to be joined
by the Charchan-daryā and then passes north of Mirān, 'the old eastern capital' of the kingdom
of Shan-shan, into the marshes of Kara-koshun or, to use their modern Chinese, or more correctly
Mongol, designation, into the present Lop-nōr.

Passage of
' River of
the North '. The passage with which we are here concerned runs as follows:⁵ 'The waters of the Ho 河
[i. e. the River of the North] move farther east and pass to the south of the kingdom of Mo-shan
墨山. [This kingdom] has for its capital the town of Mo-shan; on the west it is 240 li from
Wei-li 尉犁. The waters of the Ho move farther east and pass to the south of the town of Chu-pin
注賓; farther east they pass south of the town of Lou-lan 樓蘭 and then run off eastwards.
This is, no doubt, the place where the colony of soldiers sent to clear the fields [for cultivation]
was established, and this is why the town inherited the name of the kingdom. The waters of the
Ho proceed farther east, to empty themselves in the Yu marshes 泑澤, which are those called
by the [Shuĭ] ching the P'u-ch'ang lake 蒲昌海. The water accumulates in the north-east
of Shan-shan and in the south-west of the Town of the Dragon.'

Course of
Konche-
daryā
described. The latter portion of this passage has already been fully analysed above. It has been shown
there that it quite correctly describes the course taken by the river now represented by the beds of
the Kuruk-daryā, as they pass from Ying-p'an south of the Lou-lan site and thence to the dried-up
marshes eastwards fringing the salt-encrusted bed of the ancient Lop Sea.⁶ With regard to the
preceding portion it is easy to show that, as already briefly stated in Serindia, the topographical
indications take us necessarily to the ground along the foot of the glacis of the western Kuruk-tāgh
now skirted by the Konche-daryā. We have seen before that the 'kingdom of Mo-shan', the

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