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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

altogether and, passing a bare gravel plateau between the Kan-chou River and the marshy depression
of the Po-nan Ho, enters a wide belt of scrub and reed-covered steppe, which extends for about 40
miles in a direct line from east to west (Map No. 91. A–C. 2). In former times this big area, though
covered by drift-sand in parts, must have had considerable value, as it is ground well fitted for winter-
grazing.¹² The watch-towers, and in places the wall, too, of the Ming border line were clearly seen
from the high road, skirting the foot of the low flat hill range northward. It was interesting, as
I passed along this ancient highway in the early days of September, to meet successive caravans of
camels and donkeys carrying goods right through from Khotan to Kan-chou and Lan-chou, just as
they had in the days of Marco Polo and long before him.

Ming wall From the roadside station of Shuang-ching-tzŭ I struck off to the north-west for the sake of
crossed to a reconnaissance beyond Chin-t'a 金塔. Its object was to ascertain whether the line of the ancient
Chin-t'a. Han Limes, which I suspected, might have lain to the north of Chia-yü kuan and well beyond the still
known mediaeval border wall, could be traced in that direction. The attempt failed owing to the
very limited time I was able to spare for it, only a few days, and the often proved difficulty of
extracting any helpful local guidance from the ever secretive dwellers on these Kan-su borders. But
it yielded some useful observations all the same. On my way to Chin-t'a I crossed the line of the
Ming wall (Map No. 91. A. 1) and assured myself that its construction, as well as that of its watch-towers,
agreed here closely with what I had noted at the line to the north-east of Chia-yü kuan and north of
Su-chou.¹³ The advanced watch-towers on the top of the low hill chain skirted by the wall were
clearly meant to form part of this defensive system. The oasis of Chin-t'a, watered by canals from
the Pei-ta Ho, or Su-chou River, had prudently been left outside this 'Great Wall' of a period of
cautious seclusion. But evidently its inhabitants had tried to obtain safety from raids, etc., by similar
means; for I found a much-decayed clay wall running round the southern and south-eastern edges
of the cultivated area.

Abandoned The ground beyond Chin-t'a, a picturesque little town with some five hundred homesteads,
cultivation exhibited in a very instructive fashion physical features typical of terminal oases in the Tarim
beyond Basin. Strips of cultivation following the canal lines gradually gave way, as the map (No. 90. A. 4)
Chin-t'a. shows, to patches of fields scattered amidst extensive wastes of scrub or tamarisk jungle. Some
fields were still tilled, others seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. In a few places
I came upon small clearings, evidently attempts at recent reclamation. At T'ou-tun (Map No. 90. A. 3),
one of these outlying small cultivated areas, there were the usual complaints about inadequate water-
supply for irrigation and an increasing frequency of dry seasons. Yet there could be no doubt that
most of the land now lying waste had been abandoned in consequence of the terrible devastations
Desiccation accompanying the Tungan rebellion. Without very careful and prolonged study of local conditions
or depopulation? it seemed impossible to decide whether and to what extent the present half-deserted aspect of this
northern portion of the Chin-t'a oasis was due to desiccation or to the depopulation which resulted
from the Tungan inroads. The Niya or Endere Sites may well have presented a similar appearance
some time before their final abandonment—and, perhaps, the same difficulty for a passing traveller
to judge of the direct cause of it. The ruins at Hsi-yo, which I had found marked on the Russian
map and which I visited on September 11 from T'ou-tun, proved to be those of a shrine of no
great age, destroyed by the Tungans. The river-bed close by, though fully a mile wide, was com-
pletely dry at the time; yet cultivation had been started afresh some years earlier at an isolated
farm near the ruins. I little guessed, when turning back from this point, that the line of the ancient
Han Limes led past it at a distance of only three miles, and could be traced thence practically