国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

This watch-tower was the southernmost point from which I saw The Small River.
Its winding, narrow course disappeared in a south-south-easterly direction, being
surrounded by small lakes, swampy reeds and meadows with seemingly good graz-
ing. About 20 li further down The Small River was said to form two lakes, a
Baghrash-köl, and a Kök-toghraq, and after a distance of two days' travel on horse-
back the river should terminate. Nobody could give any definite information as to
the position of the terminus of the river, but if the information obtained was cor-
rect, and I have no reason to doubt it, the river would reach very near to Qara-
qoshun. When I asked my men if it reached Shirge-chapghan they answered 'Yes',
but at other times it was stated to turn eastwards. Niaz bai, a Turk from
Charkhliq, who had his summer abode with his sheep not far from the watch-
tower, called The Small River Qum-darya, i. e. the same name as that of the mother
river. Higher up I heard one mention the name Yangi-darya, but also this is applied
to the main river. The dwindling course of one of its branches is seen on Pl. X b.

When Stein, about New Year 1906—07, marched from Lou-lan in a south-
westerly direction to reach the course from north to south of lower Tarim he came
upon rows of dead trees, which very likely mark the course of my Small River at
a more southerly point than that from which I saw it. I take the liberty of quoting
some passages from Stein (1921, p. 452):

"There (at camp 130) I came upon the first rows of dead Toghraks since Camp
127 — — — stretching in well-defined lines from north to south. — — — the
wild poplars of the Tarim Basin show an invariable tendency to grow in lines paral-
lel to the nearest open water-courses or the channels of subsoil drainage which
continue them. Here the dead Toghraks, many of them of large size, all lay pros-
trate on the ground, and though their bleached and withered trunks and main
branches still showed clearly recognizable features, I could see that they must have
been dead far longer than those, for instance, which had grown up and died at
the Niya Site since it was abandoned about the fourth century A. D. The position of
this Toghrak grove, probably marking an ancient channel of the Tarim, was not
more than sixteen miles in a straight line from the present bed of the Ilek branch."

LIST OF ANTIQUITIES FROM THE WATCH-TOWER

9:1. Handle of large earthenware jug with
projecting rim. Brick-red ware in-
termixed with coarse-grained sand. Pl. 18:4.

9:2. Stout handle from earthenware vessel,
blue-grey ware intermixed with coarse-
grained sand.

9:3. Potsherd with a horizontal lug. Rather
thin red ware, brown inside.

9:4. High neck of an earthenware vase of
light-grey, hard-burnt ware. H. about
19 cm. Diam. of mouth 12 cm. Pl. 18:5.

9:5-6. Two potsherds from the rim of two
vessels. Dark bluish-grey ware.

9:7. Potsherd from rim of large, bulky
vessel of light-red ware intermixed
with much sand. Fig. 35:2.

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