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| 0229 |
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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CHAPTER VIII
EXPLORATIONS AT ANCIENT LOU-LAN
It was at the small oasis of Charkhlik, as already related,
that in the first days of December 1906 I had to make pre-
parations for my long-planned expedition to the ruins in
the utterly waterless desert north of Lop-nor which Dr.
Hedin had first discovered on his memorable journey of
1900. After exploring whatever remains we might trace
there, I proposed to take my caravan across Marco Polo's
'Desert of Lop' to Tun-huang by the ancient route which
he followed and which had since fallen into oblivion for
centuries. Everything pointed to the need of careful arrange-
ments for transport and supplies if serious risks were to be
avoided. Equally important it was to husband my time as
carefully as possible; for work in waterless desert would be
practicable only during the few months of winter when the
cold would allow me to transport water in the form of ice.
The extremely limited resources of Charkhlik, a mere
village as befits the headquarters of a district almost wholly
desert, made these preparations an exacting task. Within
three days I had to raise a contingent of fifty labourers for
the proposed excavations, with food supplies to last all of
us for five weeks, and to collect as many camels as I possibly
could for the transport; for we should have to carry water,
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