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

1913-15 Sai-kāréz, Deghar, Camp 275 (Bēg's house ; D. 3) ... ... 42° 35′ 1″
Shōr-bulak, Camp 287 (close to spring ; A. 4) ... ... 42° 6′ 35″

NOTES ON SHEET No. 29 (SINGER, LOU-LAN)

The surveys represented in this sheet,
which comprises the ancient territory of
Lou-lan in the western portion of the Lop
desert and the Kuruk-tāgh ranges to the
north of it, date mostly from the third
expedition. The work of 1906-08 is con-
fined to the desert routes followed from the
Tārim to the ruins of the Lou-lan Site
(D. 3) and back, and to that leading from
Turfān to Singer (B. 2) and thence to Korla.
The exploration of all ancient remains
traceable in the Lou-lan area, once passed by
the Chinese high road from Tun-huang to the
Tārim basin, formed an important task both
on the second and third expeditions. This
accounts for the comparatively close network
of traverses covering what is now all water-
less desert of wind-eroded clay, salt and
drift-sand, in the south-eastern quarter of
the sheet.
In the course of compilation all plane-
table work was adjusted on the positions
which had been adopted for Āltmish-bulak,
Korla and intermediate points on the basis
of an erroneous adjustment of R. B. Lāl
Singh's triangulation. This error arose
through acceptance of the very distant
connection between the northern and south-
ern sections of the triangulation, which
rays observed from the Āstin-bulak stations
(D. 3) to Pk. 1/75 E (Peak 13,170, in Sheet
No. 30. D. 2) were assumed to furnish. The
reasons, which on re-examination in 1921
indicated faulty identification of this junc-
tion point and caused this distant connection
to be rejected, are fully explained in Major
Mason's notes in Appendix A (Groups H
and I, para. 2). The position of Āltmish-
bulak Camp Station, as previously adopted
and shown in the map, is lat. 40°56′27″,
long. 89°52′36″; the coordinates of the same,
as determined on the basis of Mr. Clementi's
values of Korla, are lat. 40° 53′ 29″, long.
90° 19′ 55″ (see Appendix A, Sheet N. K

46b). It deserves to be noted that Dr.
Hedin's map assigns to Āltmish-bulak the
values of lat. 40° 57′ 16″, long. 89° 59′ 24″.
The position of Āltmish-bulak as adopt-
ed in the map has resulted also in a shift to
the west of that assigned to the Lou-lan Site
(Camp 83, 124, at L.A. Stūpa ruin ; D.3).
This junction of numerous routes is now
placed with long. 89° 46′ 20″ against
89°52′40″ in Sheet No. 60 of the 1906-08
map and Dr. Hedin's longitude 89°50′53″
for the same point. The same may be noted
also in the location of Singer (B.2), another
important route junction, which is now
shown with long. 88° 38′ 10″ against 88°47′
40″ of the 1906-08 map.
In addition to the latitude values record-
ed below, use was made of one observed by
Dr. Hedin on the Tārim river (A.4).
The area comprised in this sheet, all
desert and almost wholly waterless through-
out, falls into two regions quite distinct in
physical charcter. In the northern portion
we have the utterly barren and much-decay-
ed hill-ranges of the Kuruk-tāgh. They are
divided by wide plateaus descending for the
most part into drainageless basins, salt-
encrusted and dry except after rare floods.
The highest of these ranges is the one which,
striking approximately from east to west,
passes close to Singer. To the west of this,
the only permanently inhabited place in the
Kuruk-tāgh with a small patch of cultiva-
tion, the range culminates in the rugged
Hsi-ta-shan (A.2), probably the greatest
elevation of the whole Kuruk-tāgh. ¹⁴ To
the east of Singer the rare springs found
are all salt. What scanty vegetation exists
is confined to the vicinity of springs and to
some of the depressions.
From the gravel glacis at the foot of
the Kuruk-tāgh, there extends southwards an
utterly waterless desert, over-run by drift-
sand and, wherever bare of dunes, undergoing