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

than it is now. Sor-köl was the Dragon Lake of Sung Yün. The stream flowing out on
the west is the Pamir river. Regarding the hydrography to the east Hsüan-chuang made
simply a mistake committed by later and better-equipped travellers.¹

That Victoria, and not Chakmak, Lake is alluded to is further demonstrated by the direction,
viz. southeast, taken by the pilgrim, after passing the lake on his way to Chieh-p'an-t'o (assuming the
latter, with Yule, to be Sarikol with its capital Tashkurghan). If he had been marching by the Little
Pamir route, he would have had to proceed north-east from Chakmak to Aktash.²

In my opinion the size does not prove much, as the exaggeration is enormous whichever
of the Pamir lakes is chosen. Nor is anything proved by the direction, which in both
cases is wrong, for Tash-kurgan is situated to the E. N. E., and not S. E. of Sor-köl, and
N. E. of Chakmakden-köl. These arguments have no greater value than those which could
be used in favour of Kara-köl, where I, in the beginning of March 1894, marching over
the frozen lake, was told by my native servants from Ferghâna that the peculiar sounds
accompanying the steps of our horses over the ice, were caused by big fishes (perhaps
dragons!) knocking their heads against the ice. Nor could the depth of down to 756
feet be an argument for Hsüan-chuang's: »it cannot be fathomed«.

The most serious and erudite of all attempts that have been made to reconstruct the
itinerary of Hsüan-chuang and bring it in accordance with our present knowledge of Chinese
geographical literature and the results of modern exploration, is that of Stein in his work
»Ancient Khotan«.³

M. A. Stein regards the great Chinese pilgrim as our main authority concerning
ancient Sarikol. In the summer of 642 A. D. he returned from India, passing, on his home-
ward way to China, through Badakhshan and into the kingdom of Ta-mo-hsi-t'ie-ti, which
beyond doubt has been identified with Wakhan. Seven marches to the N. E. brought him
to the valley of Pa-mi-lo. Stein believes he travelled through Great Pamir and past Wood's
lake, for the pilgrim's description of his great Dragon Lake in a higher degree resembles
the Sor-kul than any other lake in the Pamirs. Five hundred li to the S. E. took him
through uninhabited regions and over mountains covered with ice and snow to the kingdom
of Chieh-p'an-t'o or Sarikol. Had he travelled S. E. from Little Pamir and Chakmakden-
köl, he should not have arrived in Sarikol, a view in which Stein agrees with Curzon.
From Great Pamir he had to make a choice between two different roads, either eastward
viâ the Naẑa-tash Pass, or into the Aksu valley at the issue of the river from Little Pamir,
and thence by Bayik and other passes into the upper part of Taghdumbash Pamir. The
general direction would here be S. E.⁴ And this road had been taken by Hsüan-chuang.
As a third alternative Stein regards the track across the Wakhjir Pass, where an
important caravan road passed in ancient times. In 1901 Stein even regarded this route
as the most probable:

Notwithstanding its great elevation⁵, the Wakhjir Pass and its approaches both from west and
east are comparatively easy. Comparing the topographical facts with Hiuen-Tsian's account in the
Hsi-yü-chi, I am led to conclude that the route followed by the great Chinese pilgrim, when travelling