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0042 On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1
中央アジア踏査記 : vol.1
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 / 42 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000214
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as arteries for the trade and cultural relations which link
China and the Tarim basin with the Oxus region and thence
with India.
If we follow eastwards the routes just referred to we reach
through tortuous arid gorges the western margin of the huge
trough, appropriately known as the Tarim basin. Before we
proceed to visit the great drift-sand desert of the Taklamakan
which fills most of it, we may pass in rapid strides along the
big mountain chains enclosing this basin; for were it not
for the water which their glaciers send down into it and
which the Tarim river gathers before it gets dried up in
the Lop-nor marshes, the whole of this vast area would be
barren of life.
On the southern flank of the basin there extends in an
unbroken line the mighty mountain rampart of the K'un-
lun. Starting from the side of the Pamirs we find its ranges
buttressing, as it were, in several high parallel ranges (Fig. 3)
the great glacier-clad watershed which the Kara-koram forms
towards the drainage of the Indus. Through these ranges
have cut their way the Yarkand river and its tributaries,
the main feeders of the Tarim. What grazing is to be found
high up at the heads of their valleys is of the scantiest kind
and barely suffices for the flocks of a few scattered Kirghiz
camps. The routes which lead up these valleys all converge
upon the Kara-koram pass. At an elevation of some 18,200
feet above sea-level, this pass is the only practicable line of
communication to give access to Ladak and the uppermost
Indus valley. But we have no record of its use in ancient
times.
Farther to the east the K'un-lun raises a practically im-
penetrable barrier to traffic of any sort. The two rivers