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CHAPTER XXXII
FROM MAZĀR-TĀGH TO MARĀL-BĀSHI
Section I.—THE RUINED FORT ON MAZĀR-TĀGH
March down
united Kho-
tan River
bed.
Two marches sufficed to carry me from our camp at Miravit to the point where the Mazār-tāgh hill
range abuts on the Khotan River. They took me past the confluence of the Yurung-kāsh and Kara-
kāsh at the lonely 'Langar' of Koshlash, the 'Junction' (Map No. 26. B. 4), where a watch is supposed
to be kept on travellers following the caravan route to or from the Tārim, and thence down the wide
bed of the united rivers. Fully a mile or more across in most places, this bed was practically dry at that
season. What running water there was in a narrow winding channel did not reach further than
about 5 miles below Koshlash. Beyond this there was only a chain, growing thinner and thinner, of
pools with fresh water left behind by the last summer's flood. During July and August, when the
glacier streams at the head-waters of the two rivers in the ice-crowned main K'un-lun ranges send
down their full quota, the enormous volume of water completely fills the bed, wide as it is. The
route then passes through the dune belt of riverine jungle on the left bank, and in places is difficult
to follow. But during the rest of the year the route lies along the open smooth expanse of the river-
bed, which makes excellent going. There is always sufficient subsoil water percolating in the bed
to keep fresh such water as is found at intervals in pools below the banks where the current of the
summer flood has set; or else it is obtainable by digging wells.
Desert route
by Khotan
River.
The route by the river provides the most direct line of communication between the Khotan
region and the northern half of the Tārim Basin, and on account of its shortness it must have claimed
considerable importance all through historical times. Yet there can be no doubt about its having
borne always the character of a desert route. The physical conditions implied by the constant
vagaries of the river, which the numerous dry branch beds and islands below Mazār-tāgh attest, make
it very unlikely that permanent settlements of any size could ever have existed along the terminal
river-course. At the same time it is clear that the grazing to be found in the riverine belts of jungle,
confined as they are for the most part by the close approach of the high barren sands of the desert
on either side, must have greatly facilitated traffic and regular intercourse. Thus during Yaqūb
Bēg's rule a line of postal stations was maintained here from Khotan to Ak-su. Now, too, shepherds
from both districts are in the habit of visiting the more attractive grazing-grounds by the river for
a great part of the year. These brief notes on the character of the route and of the ground along
which it leads will help to account for the finds that rewarded my exploration of the Mazār-tāgh.
Hill chain
of Mazār-
tāgh.
It came into view first on the morning of April 16 as a long-stretched bare ridge rising above
the left bank of the river and half hidden by the dust haze of the desert. On nearing it, the dark
pink colour of the sandstone in that portion which immediately overlooks the river (Fig. 335) showed
off vividly against the yellow sands enveloping most of the hill range and against the dark green of
any tamarisk and Toghrak jungle that is to be found at its foot by the river. I may note here that
the Māzar-tāgh, as surveyed on this visit by R. B. Lāl Singh, proved to extend as a narrow but con-
tinuous hill chain north-westwards for a distance of at least 24 miles. Though it rises nowhere to
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