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0273 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
アジアの鼓動 : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / 273 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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reach the ruins. It must have been accompanied by vege-
tation to the end of its course, just as it is to-day. The
ruins, for the most part, however, lie among vegetation
which has been dead so long that the majority of the trees
have lost their branches, and must have perished centuries
ago. A comparison of the Niya River site with old Dumuka
illustrates the matter. An abundant water supply was cut
off from Dumuka in 1841 at a single blow. The vegetation
is still vigorous, and only the weaker plants have died. If
an equally abundant supply was cut off from the Niya ruins
at approximately the same time, it is hard to see why the
vegetation in the one case should be vigorous, and in the
other should appear to have been dead hundreds of years.
Altogether, it is highly improbable that the river would reach
the ruins even if there were no such place as modern Niya.
The idea of its not only reaching them, but supporting twice
as large an oasis as it now does sixty or seventy miles up-
stream, is still more untenable. Apparently, at the beginning
of the Christian era, the available water supply of the Niya
River — which may be a very different matter from the
rainfall of the region — was at least three times as great as
now. One part or more was needed to balance the absorp-
tion and evaporation of the sixty or seventy miles from Niya
to the ruins, and two or more to irrigate the ancient oasis.
It is highly probable that the site of modern Niya was
inhabited at that time, as it certainly was three or four
centuries later, in 644 A. D., at the time of Hwen Tsiang's
visit. In that case, the water supply must have been four
or more times as great as now.
If we suppose that the climate of Central Asia has grown