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

kāsh in the west to the high ice-peaks towering above the Yurung-kāsh headwaters in the
south-east. Among these points I included also certain peaks in the much-eroded outer hills
towards Khotan by which the longitude of the town itself might be accurately determined
thereafter when a chance of exceptionally clear weather offered.

Two days later a second hill station was ascended on a high ridge above the Kunat
pass (10,820 ft.), and the equally distant views there obtained rendered it possible to secure
triangles to almost all those points before the veil of dust carried up by a rising wind finally
hid all but the nearest ground from our horizon. Subsequent experience has shown how
serious is the obstacle presented to survey operations by the fog-like haze of this region. All
along the southern edge of the Tārim basin and the adjoining mountains it rarely lifts except
for short periods of the late autumn and winter.

After a short halt at Khotan necessitated by manifold preparations for our winter
Triannulation towards campaign I dispatched Rām Singh on November 23rd for supplement-
Karanghu-tāgh. ary triangulation work in the mountains and for a survey of the high
range stretching east of 'Muz-tāgh'. This would fill the gap between
our previous survey and the tract explored by Captain Deasy about Polur and along the
K'un-lun further east. In accordance with my instructions Rām Singh returned to our
former route towards Karanghu-tāgh and established triangulation stations first on a pro-
minent peak (14,900 ft.) above the Ulūgh-dawān overlooking the Buya valley, ²² and
subsequently on the edge of the high plateau above the Pisha valley (Töpe tāgh, 15,949 ft.)
close to the point where the track to Karanghu-tāgh falls steeply into the deep-cut gorge of
the Yurung-kāsh ²³.

He then made his way by the Igin-dawān, at the head of the Pisha valley, across the
range running due north from 'Muz-tāgh'. Beyond, this culminates in
Survey of range S. of the conspicuous snowy massif of the Tikelik-tāgh (Pk.3/60n) and finally
Khotan-Keriya. loses itself on the broad piedmont gravel glacis south-east of the
Khotan oasis. ²⁴ Further east he proceeded across the open plateau-like valleys in which
rise the head-waters of the rivers irrigating the oases between Khotan and Keriya. Keeping
there on high ground, notwithstanding the bitter cold of the season, he accurately mapped
the northern slopes of the outer main K'un-lun range as far east as the valley above Tört-Imām
(Imāmlar). ²⁵ From stations established on broad elevated spurs between the glacier-fed
sources of the Yulung and Nūra rivers he triangulated a number of peaks on this part of the
range rising to heights above 21,000 feet.

When the increasing winter cold stopped further work at high altitudes, Rām Singh
descended to the narrow belt of oases which stretches east of Chira. They lie along the line
where the subsoil water absorbed on the gravel slopes to the south comes to light again in
springs and renders cultivation possible here and there, before being finally lost in the drifting
sands of the Taklamakān. From Keriya, the largest of the oases, he turned northwards
and, following the Keriya river down a previously unsurveyed portion of its course, rejoined
me on December 23rd at the desert site of Dandān-oilik. ²⁶

Since our separation I had myself been first occupied within the central portion of the
Khotan oasis by surveys needed for clearing up manifold questions
Traverses to concerning its historical topography. ²⁷ Subsequently I set out by
Dandān-oilik. December 7th into the desert north-eastwards for my main task, the
exploration of sand-buried ancient sites. The plane-table traverse carried out by me along my
route to the ruins of Dandān-oilik, the first of these, a distance of about 120 miles, had lain
almost wholly through desert and for the last six marches over bare dunes, altogether very
deceptive ground. Rām Singh's survey from Khotan to the same place had been brought