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0178 Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1
Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / 178 ページ(白黒高解像度画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000182
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mighty range southwards that only tracks passable for men or, perhaps, also for yaks, could
be found across it. An historical reference to Karanghu-tāgh and its 'mountains of blinding
darkness', fully confirms this conclusion. For Mirzā Ḥaidar, when describing the desperate
flight of his uncle Abā Bakr from Khotan towards 'Tibet', i. e., Ladāk (A. H. 920), distinctly
mentions how the dethroned tyrant, on reaching the Karanghu-tāgh valley, was obliged to kill
his ponies and mules, and to abandon all the treasures carried on them, since they could not
be taken further on the difficult track which alone offered escape ²⁹.

SECTION II.—AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES IN KHOTAN

Fertility of
oasis.
From this rapid glance at the mountain background of Khotan we may now return to
the oasis itself. The picture which it presents, wherever we may pass through it, is one of
remarkable fertility. Almost from the heads of the first canals that take off at the debouchement
of the rivers, down to the edge of the desert, stretches an unbroken expanse of carefully
banked fields, varied only by thickly studded hamlets and villages, by their fruit-gardens, and
by the fine avenues of poplars and willows which line every road and canal. Variations in
the productiveness of the fields exist, of course, in the different tracts; they are influenced by
the distance from the main canals, and by the time and amount of the allotted water-supply
dependent on this; by the appearance of subsoil water or drift-sand, and similar features.
But good crops are generally assured, whatever the produce for which the soil may be utilized,
with due regard to local conditions ¹.

Agricultural
produce.
Wheat, rice, millet, oats, and above all Indian corn are the staple cereals; and the early
harvest of spring sowings and the abundant water-supply of the summer permit of Indian
corn being grown almost everywhere as a second crop. The rich fields of lucerne (bidā) supply
plentiful fodder. Cotton is grown largely. Equally important is the cultivation of mulberry
trees; for Khotan, as we shall see, has been a home of sericulture since ancient times, and
is still its main centre for the whole of Eastern Turkestān. Khotan is not distinguished for
its vegetables. Fruit-trees, on the other hand, flourish all over the oasis, and their produce is
so plentiful that a considerable export in dried fruit takes place, especially towards Ak-su and