国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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0382 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 382 ページ(カラー画像)

New!引用情報

doi: 10.20676/00000213
引用形式選択: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR読み取り結果

the *hachure* of an etching, my eye was caught by a low
gravel-covered ridge running south-eastwards.

It proved, as expected, to be the line of a canal, with
the banks still clearly marked on the top of the pebble-
strewn ridge. The heavy gravel and coarse sand which
the water of the canal carried down in its course had helped
not only gradually to raise the canal bed, as noticed in
almost every oasis from Khotan to An-hsi, but also to
protect it from the force of the winds which have been
continually cutting up and scooping the loess ground on
either side ever since irrigation ceased. Thus it is easily
explained why the level of the canal banks now lies ten
feet or so on the average level above that of the ground
traversed by it. For fully three miles I followed the canal
to where a massive but shapeless mound of stamped clay,
evidently the relic of some watch-tower or small fort, rises
close by its side.

From here onwards the traces of the canal were lost on
ground completely furrowed by Yardangs (Fig. 210). But
in the distance to the south-east a line of white clay cliffs
seemed to indicate a river course now dry and sunk into
the gravel glacis. A gap seen south of this in the outer-
most hill range suggested that this course had served also
for the drainage of the next higher range which, though
without permanent snow, was likely to receive at times
a little more moisture. That it was this same drainage
which, finding its way underground, now came to light in
the marshes east and south-east of Ch'iao-tzŭ appeared to
me very probable. But in any case the total impossibility
of bringing surface water at present for the irrigation of
the old site was plain evidence of desiccation, whether
general or restricted to this region.