Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 362 (Color Image)

0362	Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1

matter, once for all, as one which gave me much trouble and annoyance during the whole of
my stay and travels in Eastern Turkestan.*

It must not be supposed, however, that because I was given permission to use instruments
I have been able to turn out very accurate surveys of the countries traversed. The rapidity with
which we have always travelled has made it impossible for me to do more than carry on a con-
tinuous route survey, checked by frequent astronomical observations taken at night; and even
this is sometimes meagre and incomplete owing to the intense cold which we experienced
throughout almost the whole of our travels, which made even the handling of a prismatic
compass at times an impossibility; this, coupled with the shortness of the winter days, the
occasional excessive length of the marches, many of them through snow, and the necessity
on these trips of always cutting down both the baggage and the limited establishment of camp
servants with which I originally started, must be held to excuse any incompleteness in the maps
that I furnish.

During our first excursion the marches we made were as follows :—
Miles.
From Yangi-Hisár (Káshghar) to—
1. Besák (Upper Artysh District) ... ... ... 26
2. Chung Terek ... ... ... ... ... 20
3. Chakmak Forts ... ... ... ... ... 20
4. Balghun Báshi ... ... ... ... ... 10
5. Turgat Bela ... ... ... ... ... 15
6. To Turgat Pass and hill above Chadyr Kul and back to (5) ... 32
7. Back to Chakmak ... ... ... ... ... 25

and back to Káshghar by the same road. I suceeded, with no little difficulty, in keeping up a
continuous route survey, and took observations for latitude at four points on the line of march,
the most northerly being at Turgat Bela (north lat. 40° 23′ 53″) on which occasion, while observ-
ing, the thermometer stood at 10° below zero (Fahrenheit), and an intensely bitter wind was
blowing. Later on the same night the thermometer fell to 26°, while inside the ákoe, (Kirghiz
tent) where we slept, it was as low as 8½°, a temperature hardly adapted for carrying on
an elaborate Survey.†

We left Yangi-shahr (the new city of Káshghar) and, going northwards, crossed the
River Kizil by a good wooden bridge. At a distance of 5½ miles we passed on our left the
old city of Káshghar, beyond which we crossed the River Taman by another bridge. This
stream passes immediately to the north of the town, and joins the Kizil at a short distance to
the east, the two forming the Káshghar Darya. At the time we passed there was but little
water in either stream, that little being frozen, so that it was impossible to form any idea of
the size of the vast mass of water that must come down in the summer time. The left bank
of the Taman is covered by tanneries and cemeteries; the road runs nearly north and enters a
narrow lane between two mud walls, on either side of which are enclosed gardens, fields, and
hovels. These continue for some four miles, when the road emerges on to an open stony plain
forming a very gently rising slope up to a small spur from a low range of hills running
nearly due east and west, through a gap in which, formed by the river Artysh, the road passes.
On the north side of the range is the wide and fertile valley of the Artysh, a name given to

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

Citation Information

OCR Text

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