EAST TURKESTAN. ' 133 



has prevailed for a long time — as far back as when the Han-Hai was in 

 communication with the great ocean."* 



Farther on reference will be again made to some of the points to the con- 

 sideration of which the desiccation of the Han-Hai naturally leads us. At 

 present we need only allude to the fact tliat Richthofen evidently considers 

 it as proved that a considerable portion of the diminution of the water- 

 surface of this great inland sea has been accomplished during the historical 

 period, for he says: "The Chine.se historical records prove that 4,000 years 

 ago Lob-Nor was an extensive inland sea [ausgedehnter See], and Avas prop- 

 erly called ' Si-Hai ' or Western Lake or Sea." t 



Colonel Prjewalsky, the eminent and indefatigable explorer of Central 

 Asia, shows t that Lob-Nor was, at no very remote period, much larger than 

 it now is, and he also states that it is said by the natives to have diminished 

 considerably within the past thirty years. He adds : " Moreover, the fact 

 of a drying-up [Austrocknen] of the lakes is one which is observed all over 

 Central Asia." 



Sir T. D. Forsyth, in a portion of his work on East Turkestan § compiled 

 from Dr. Stoliczka's notes, and relating to the geological structure of the 

 mountain ranges between the Tschang-Tschemmo valley and Schahidula on 

 the borders of Kaschgar, thus speaks of the detrital deposits in the valleys 

 of that region : " The melting snow carries large quantities of gravel into the 

 valleys, everywhere forming high benches along the water-courses. During 

 a past epoch, perhaps the diluvial, this process must have taken place on a 

 much larger scale than at present. Not only were the lakes much more 

 extensive, but valleys like the Tschang-Tschemmo and the Tangste were 

 from time to time blocked up by land-slips or glaciers, so that gravel and 

 clay deposits were accumulated, sometinies to a thickness of several hundred 

 feet. Near Aktagh are similar deposits of stratified clay, about 160 feet 

 in thickness, which cover an area of more than a hundred square miles. 

 There can be little doubt that, at the time when these large areas of water 

 existed, the climate of that now cold and dry region was milder and moister 

 than it now is, and also more favorable to animal and vegetable life. Evi- 



* Cliina, Vol. I. p. 110. + 1. c, p. r25. 



t Ecise an deii Lob-Nor, 1876-77. In Erganznngsheft to Petermann's Mittheilnngen, No. 53, p. 21. 



§ In Erganzungsheft to Peterraanu's Mittheilnngen, No. 52, entitled Cst-Turkestan und das Pamir- Plateau, 

 hearbeitet nach dem offiziellen " Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873, under command of Sir T. D. Forsyth, 

 K. C. S. I., C. B., Bengal Civil Service." Mr. Forsyth's mission was accomp.anied by Dr. Stoliczka, as geologist, 

 and it is from his note.s that the above-quoted remarks are compiled. 



