Serindia : vol.3 / 80 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0080	Serindia : vol.3
セリンディア : vol.3

familiar myself when we made our way in September, 1914, across unexplored portions of the
eastern Pei-shan.¹⁶

Hsüan-
tsang's route
beyond Ma-
lien-ching-
tzŭ.

In any case it is certain that if at the present day a wayfarer to Hāmi had reason to avoid
observation at Hsing-hsing-hsia, he could do no better than leave the main route at Ma-lien-ching-tzŭ
and strike to the west-north-west. He would have to cross there a continuation of what appears
to be the highest of the hill ranges of the Pei-shan, the one which the main road passes in tortuous
gorges just above Hsing-hsing-hsia.¹⁷ On such ground it would obviously not be possible to follow
a straight line, and this circumstance may well account for the passage in the narrative telling us
that 'as the route made long detours, he no longer knew which direction to follow'.¹⁸ After the
unsuccessful search for the 'Spring of the Wild Horses' we are told that Hsüan-tsang turned
resolutely to the north-west and continued his journey undaunted by thirst and the perils of the
desert. It was a resolve needing all the religious fervour and courage of the great pilgrim, but it
was also the wisest course to follow—for one who knew how to keep up that bearing. And that
Hsüan-tsang possessed fully that instinct of the compass, so prevalent among Chinese of whatever
condition, is abundantly proved by the topographical records he has left us in his Hsi-yü-chi.

Marches
through
trackless
desert.

As the map shows, this course to the north-west was bound to carry the traveller across the
utterly barren gravel glacis about K'u-shui down to the Yen-tun depression, and beyond this to
the south-eastern edge of the loess belt where subsoil drainage from the Karlīk-tāgh supports
vegetation. We are told that on this progress across the Mo-ho-yen desert he went without water
for four nights and five days, until after the refreshing rest of the fifth night his hardy mount carried
him a few miles beyond to pasture and water in a pool. Here we find once again that the approxi-
mate distance reckoning, as indicated by the record of the Life, is in as close agreement with the
actual topography as we could reasonably expect; for we have seen that on the present caravan
road five marches are needed to bring the traveller from Ma-lien-ching-tzŭ, i.e. the fourth signal-
tower, to Chang-liu-shui, the first place with springs and verdure on the Hāmi side, the total
marching distance amounting to about 106 miles. There may have been wells then as now on the
regular route leading from the fifth watch-station to Hāmi, in positions corresponding, or near, to
Sha-ch'üan-tzŭ, K'u-shui, Yen-tun. But how difficult, if not impossible, it would have been for
Hsüan-tsang, once off the caravan track, to find them I know only too well from my own personal
experience on similar desert ground. The line he followed obviously lay parallel to the route.
Yet this might easily have remained hidden from him, even if approached within a few miles.

Authenticity
of record in
Life con-
firmed.

That it was the scent or local sense of his horse which enabled Hsüan-tsang in the end to
reach the saving spring before succumbing to thirst and exhaustion distinctly strengthens, in my
belief, the authenticity of the record as presented by Hui-li. We have been told in it before how
Hsüan-tsang, when preparing for his adventurous start at Kua-chou, had wisely by exchange for
his own secured this horse from an old 'barbarian' who had ridden it more than fifteen times to
Hāmi and back.¹⁹ The remarkable way in which horses and camels in the desert can scent water
and grazing from considerable distances, or correctly locate such places remembered from previous
visits, is too well known to need my personal testimony.²⁰ The accuracy of Hui-li's narrative

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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 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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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
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ