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0265	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

There was no time for the examination of these humble resting-places, as we still had a long march March to
before us that evening, to the newly established district head-quarters of Kara-kum south-west- Kara-kum.
wards. The route followed took us first across a wide area of tamarisk and scrub-covered steppe,
where shallow flood-beds and plentiful salt efflorescence indicated liability to inundation both from
the drainage of the westernmost foot-hills of the Kuruk-tāgh and from the overflow of canals from
the Konche-daryā. Some seven miles from Yār-karaul we came upon the first detached patches
of cultivation belonging to 'old Kara-kum', on ground known as Gherilghan. Then over water-
logged roads, through an alternation of fields and unreclaimed land, we reached the half-abandoned
market-place of Kara-kum 'Kōna-shahr'. The official head-quarters had been shifted thence in
the preceding autumn to the 'new town' of Kara-kum, situated on the left bank of the Konche-
daryā eight miles farther south, and there we arrived long after nightfall, having covered fully
thirty-one miles in the day.

SECTION IV.—THE TERRITORY OF WEI-LI AND THE MODERN KARA-KUM

I was obliged to halt two days at Kara-kum, partly in order to let men and animals have some Halt at
rest after the rather trying desert journey and partly in order to save if possible one of our camels Kara-kum.
which had been severely wounded, near Sanje, by the accidental discharge of Ibrāhīm the hunter's
gun. We had been obliged to leave the poor beast behind, with one of the men to take care of it,
in the hope of bringing it in later. This hope was destined to disappointment, and the victim of
our guide's want of care had to be killed by Hassan Ākhūn, my camel factotum, on his return to
the spot with assistance.
This halt at Kara-kum proved useful, inasmuch as it enabled me to secure reliable information
about that out-of-the-way and comparatively little known Chinese district which comprises the
northern portion of the Lop area and the tract between the upper Konche-daryā and Korla. I have
already had occasion to discuss in Serindia the reasons which lead me to identify the territory
of Wei-li 尉梨 with this modern district.¹ A brief summary of the Chinese historical notices
referring to it will therefore here suffice.
The notice in the Former Han Annals makes the 'kingdom of Wei-li' join Shan-shan and Wei-li in
Chü-mo on the south.² This corresponds correctly enough to the position of the district now officially Former
known as Kara-kum, which extends along the Konche-daryā from below Korla down to near the Han Annals.
river's junction with the Tārim below Tikenlik. We have seen that, according to the Ch'ien
Han shu's notice of Shan 𝄪 or the western Kuruk-tāgh, the chief place of this territory was situated
240 li east of Wei-li, which clearly takes us to the vicinity of the present Kara-kum.³ The distance
to, and bearing of, the seat of the Governor-General, probably in the present oasis of Yangi-hissār,
viz. 360 li to the west, are approximately correct. So also is the statement that from Ch'ü-li 渠犁,
the riverine tracts between the Inchike-daryā and the Yārkand-daryā from Shahyār downwards,
the road led to Wei-li.⁴ The population of 2,000 families recorded for Wei-li as compared with
that of 700 families for the adjoining Wei-hsü or Korla suggests a fairly large territory.
The Later Han Annals do not furnish a special notice of Wei-li, but mention its 'king', in Wei-li in
significant conjunction with the chiefs of Yen-ch'i (Kara-shahr), Wei-hsü (Korla) and Shan, all later
territories closely adjacent to Kara-kum, as having been defeated and punished by Pan Ch'ao in Annals.

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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
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