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

Turning our attention to the north we must confess that Tibet is very well
placed as compared with Eastern Turkestan. There may even be said to exist an
indication of the western Kwen-lun. He has Casgar twice,¹ and calls the southern
one »Casgar ou Cacheguer anciene Capitale du Rᵐᵉˢ.² On his map of 1706 (Pl.
XLI), the northern Casgar has disappeared, but »Yarkan ou Irken³ Cap. du R.
de Cachgar» is still ten days north of Cachgar. On Pl. XL Cotan is situated
on a river flowing S.E. and ending in »Deserts sans eau». On Pl. XLI the river
of Cotan flows north to a desert which is part of Desert de Caracatay ou Vieu Ca-
thay, a name that he prefers to the old Desertum Lop. In this desert he has placed
the famous »Araptan Kan Calmuc», who, a few years later sent his armies through
Tibet and captured Lhasa.
Other names in this part of Central Asia will easily be recognised. There are
the routes of Goës and the itinerary of Bernier, and an Arab itinerary through
northern Tibet. Acsu, Yulduz, Turfan and Camoul are well placed. The Kingdom
of Cialis is still there and seems to refer to the surroundings of Bagrash-köl. The
river of Kenker must be either that of Kara-shahr, Khaidu-gol, or that of Korla,
Konche-darya. There is indeed a Conche not far west of it, but it is an alternative
name for Cucia which is Kucha. There is also a Ugan, our Ugen-darya.⁴ But only
two rivers are drawn in Eastern Turkestan, Khotan-darya and Konche-darya; the
Tarim, of which Ptolemy had two copies, is missing, and so is Lop-nor, which is not
surprising, for only between 1760 and 1765 Emperor CHIEN LUNG dispatched the
Jesuits D'ESPINHA, D'AROCHA and HALLERSTEIN to make a map of the surroundings
of Lop-nor.⁵
Comparing the map of 1705 (Pl. XL) with another map (Pl. XLII),
1723, by the same author, we find considerable improvements in several respects.
The title of the map is so important that it must be given in full: »Carte d'Asie
dressée pour l'Usage du Roy. Sur les memoires envoyéz par le Czar a l'Aca-
demie Royale des Sciences Sur ce que les Arabes nous ont laissé de plus exact
des pays orientaux Sur un grand nombre de Routiers de terre et de mer et de
Cartes manuscrites detaillées. Le tout assujeti aux observations de l'Academie et
a celles des R. R. P. P. Jesuites et autres Mathematiciens Par GUILLAUME DE-
LISLE . . . Juin 1723.» The memoirs which Tsar Peter sent to the Academy were
to a very great extent the result of the assiduous work carried out by the Swedish
officers kept in Russian captivity at Tobolsk and other places of Siberia, as shall