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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

tracts of Kuchā and Shahyār to the Tārim.
The Charchak R. bed, usually dry, appears
to carry occasional floods from the marshes
fed by the Kuchā river.

Among the oases in the north, Korla is
of special interest on account of the ample
and constant water supply assured by the
Konche-daryā, draining the great reservoir

*Astronomically observed latitudes.*

1906-08. Korla, Camp 287 (main Bāzār; D. 1) ... ... 41° 44′ 32″
Jigda-salā, Camp 295 (C. 2) ... ... 41° 14′ 38″
Inchike-gumbaz, Camp 299 (old tombs; C.2) ... 41° 14′ 39″

NOTES ON SHEET No. 22 (CHARCHAN)

The surveyed area in the south-eastern
corner of this sheet is confined to the vicinity
of the Charchan oasis and the course of the
Charchan river below it. The routes followed
along the latter in 1906 and 1913 lay on
opposite banks, while that leading from the
west to Charchan was the same on both
journeys.

On December 28, 1913, a chance of
exceptionally clear weather enabled me to
fix the position of Kalasti (Camp 116 a of
1906; C. 4) by intersection from four peaks
triangulated on the K'un-lun range on the
previous journey. This position, which lies
about 2′ to the west of the one shown in
Sheet No. 46 of the 1906-08 map but agrees
with it in latitude, has been adopted and
used for the determination of Charchan, along
with the observed latitude of this place.
The routes along the river were adjusted to
a point (Keng-laika), half-way between
Tatran and Tim, for which Dr. Hedin's
latitude observation was available (38°29′34″);

*Astronomically observed latitude.*

1906-08. Charchan-bāzār, Camp 103 (Bēg's house, west of Bāzār; D. 4) ... 38° 8′ 21″

NOTES ON SHEET No. 23 (KAPA, ACHCḤAN)

This sheet shows a portion of the north-
ern main K'un-lun range surveyed in 1906,
and again in 1913, from the route leading
along its lower slope past the gold pits of
Mōlcha and Kapa to the Charchan river, as
well as the ground traversed by me in both
those years along the desert track between
the Endere river and Charchan.

The delineation of the ground along the
K'un-lun range is based on the triangulation
effected in 1906 by Rai Rām Singh, and
continued eastwards from the hill-station of
Ushlung (near Gudāche, 10,690; D. 2) by

of the Baghrash lake (Sheet No. 25. A-C. 1).
The considerable extent of the Bugur oasis
suggests that the Kizil river irrigating it
drains a portion of the outer snow-covered
T'ien-shan range which carries perpetual
snow. This river's terminal marshes appear
to have been much exaggerated in former
maps.

and to the longitude of Lashkar-satma
(Sheet No. 26. B. 3), which agreed very
closely in the surveys of 1906 and 1913-14.

The route followed in 1906 has been
described in *Desert Cathay*, i. pp. 319 sqq.
The historical topography of the Charchan
oasis which, notwithstanding its small size
and chequered fortunes, has always been of
importance for the ancient caravan route to
the south of the Taklamakān, is fully dis-
cussed in *Serindia*, i. pp. 293 sqq. There, too,
I have explained the special geographical
reasons which have throughout historical
times prevented extensive cultivation at
Charchan, notwithstanding the abundant
supply of water in its river, and have re-
peatedly caused it to be altogether abandoned
for centuries; see *Serindia*, i. p. 295.

*Corrections.* C. 3. For *Ayaktar* River
read *Ayak-tār* R.

D. 3. The route line of 1906 from Camp
119 a should be extended north to *Tim* ruin.

R. B. Lāl Singh in 1913; for stations and
intersected points see Appendix *A*, Sheets
69 D, G. The desert route is adjusted to
the triangulated position of Niya (see Notes
on Sheet No. 19) and to that of Kalasti in
Sheet No. 22. C. 4, resected from trigono-
metrical points.

The surveys along the range in the late
autumn rendered no reliable observations of
the snow-line possible. Its level has been
conjecturally shown at 17,000-17,500 feet.

For a brief descriptive account of the
desert route, see *Desert Cathay*, i. pp. 317