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0356 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
アジアの鼓動 : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / 356 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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of to-day. The abandonment of the ruined towns cannot
have been due to the encroachment of sand, for in some
places, such as Miran, Vash Sheri and Ying-pen, there is no
sand; in others, such as Endereh, the amount is small; and
even in places such as Dandan-Uilik, where there is much
sand, it appears to have encroached upon the inhabited
area after, not before, the vegetation had begun to die for
lack of water. It is possible that in one or two minor cases
the diminution of the water supply may have been due to
the diversion of part of the headwaters of a stream, but in
most cases this is impossible. Manifestly, such diversion in
one place would cause a larger stream and more abundant
vegetation elsewhere; but as a matter of fact, the amount of
vegetation has diminished everywhere. Neither the theory
of the diversion of tributaries, that of the encroachment of
sand, that of the former existence of a better irrigation
system, nor that of the destruction of forests offers any ex-
planation of the fact that many streams have grown much
more saline. This can be accounted for only on the theory
of a change of climate, a theory which not only is in har-
mony with all the known geographic facts, but which also
explains many of the events of history.
We have seen that in the Lop basin, as in Kashmir,
desiccation has not been a steady process. Fluctuations or
pulsations have been the rule, some large and long, some
slight and short. From the third to the sixth century of
our era, there seems to have been a time of intense aridity
succeeding a period of relatively abundant moisture, during
which the rivers and hence the population were much larger
than at present. During the time of aridity, many old towns