360 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



mountains which he visited. His journey lay 

 along the old trade route between China and 

 India, across Thibet, by way of Lhasa. 



Colonel Prjevalsky's discoveries in Central 

 Asia have added very materially to our geo- 

 graphical knowledge of a region of high scien- 

 tific and historical importance. The questions 

 connected with Lake Lob have been partly 

 cleared up. The problem of the discharge of 

 the Tarim has been nearly solved^ The posi- 

 tion of the mysterious ancient kingdoms of 

 Linlan and Shen-Shen he has satisfactorily 

 determined. The unexpected discovery of a 

 mountain range rising 14,000 feet and higher 

 in the southwest, presenting a precipitous wall- 

 like front, immediately south of the Tarim res- 

 ervoir, defines it probably as the northern 

 limit of the Thibetan plateau, and explains why 

 the ancient silk route led through the dreaded 

 Lob Desert instead of farther south. Prjeval- 

 sky's first excursion took place in the latter 

 part of 1876. He started from Kulja, and 

 reached Lob Nor by way of Karashar. He 

 was the first European who had ever visited 

 this problematic and important lake, which he 

 explored for about 1.35 miles, afterward re- 

 tracing his steps to Kulja. In August, 1877, 

 he started out from Kulja on another journey, 

 and endeavored to penetrate into Bod-Jul in 

 Thibet; finding it impossible to cross byway 

 of Lob Nor, he sought to reach it by way of 

 Gutchen, Tsaidam, and the sources of the Yang- 

 tse-Kiang. But he was compelled by illness 

 and the hostility of the inhabitants to return 

 to Zaizan, whence he departed for Europe 

 again. Prjevalsky left Kulja for his first jour- 

 ney in August, 1876. He followed up the val- 

 ley of the Hi, and then that of its branch the 

 Kunges. Beyond the crossing of the Zaumar 

 River, the poor vegetation of the lower country 

 was succeeded by a richer flora, including apple, 

 birch, and apricot trees, and lofty black pop- 

 lars. At the head of the Zaumar he ascended 

 into an extensive plateau called the Little Yul- 

 dus, 90 miles long by 20 broad, and 8,000 feet 

 above sea-level. Another larger steppe called 

 the Great Yuldas, traversed by a river of the 

 same name, which empties into the Bargratch- 

 Kol Lake, commonly called Bostan-Nor, is situ- 

 ated south of it higher up in the Tian-Shan 

 Mountains. The Yuldus is rich in birds and 

 mammals, including the GypaJiimalayensis, Vul- 

 tor mojiachm, Ursus leuconyx and iscibellinus, 

 Otis poli, Cerxus pygargus and maral, Canis 

 lupus and wipes. Crossing to the southern 

 slope of the mountains, where the vegetation 

 is scanty and the rainfall deficient, he remained 

 several days at Charamoto under surveillance. 

 He then passed into Korla, leaving behind the 

 last spurs of the Tian-Shan, which consist in 

 a chain called Kuruk-Tagh, which gradually 

 falls off to the eastward until it loses itself in 

 the desert. Through this ridge the Konche 

 Darya or Kaidu Ghol, the outlet of Lake Ba- 

 gratch, makes its way through an exceedingly 

 narrow gorge, famous in Chinese history as the 



pass of the Iron Gate. Along the foot of the 

 Kuruk-Tagh is a strip of stony land which 

 seems to be the shore of a former sea. The 

 desert of Tarim or Lob beyond is salty clay 

 loam, or shifting sand, and utterly desolate. 

 The Konche Darya, after a southwesterly 

 course, makes a great bend to the eastward, 

 and then runs in a southeasterly direction until 

 it joins the Kuk-ala Darya, a tributary of the 

 Tarim. The Ugen Darya, another branch of 

 the Tarim, is a swift, clear river, 50 or 60 fath- 

 oms wide, and 20 feet deep at the confluence, 

 in lat. 41 N., Ion. 87 E., which is the north- 

 ernmost point in the course of the Tarim ; it 

 takes next a southeasterly, and then a southerly 

 course before emptying its waters into the Kara 

 Buran and Lob Nor Lakes. On both sides of 

 the Tarim, or Yarkend, are salt marshes, and 

 along its course, on the west, extends a des- 

 ert full of sand-hills. Near the river grow 

 the poplar, the halimodendron, and asclepias. 

 Among mammalia observed were the royal 

 tiger, lynx, otter, wolf, fox, maral deer, hare, 

 wild boar, and wild camel, the last three being 

 very scarce. Of forty-two species of birds ob- 

 served, two, Rhopophilus deserti, and Podoces 

 tarimensis, are new to science. The inhabi- 

 tants of the Tarim are a weakly, narrow-chested, 

 pale-faced race of medium size, belonging evi- 

 dently to the Aryan family. They migrated 

 thither from the Lob Nor a century ago. They 

 number about 1,500, and dwell in poorly built 

 temporary villages. Achturma is a village one 

 day's journey below the junction of the Tarim 

 and Ugen Darya. The junction of the Kuk-ala 

 Darya with the Tarim is 125 miles farther on. 

 From here to the mouth of the Tarim it is 30 

 to 35 fathoms broad. At a distance of 10 miles 

 above where it empties into the Kara-Buran 

 is the village of Charchalyk, inhabited by refu- 

 gees from Khotan. To the southwest, 200 

 miles distant, is the town of Cherchen, on the 

 Cherchen Darya, which empties also into the 

 Kara-Buran Lake. About the same distance 

 farther on is the oasis of Nai, and beyond that 

 are Keria, Chira, and Khotan. The Altyn-Tagh 

 range of mountains looms up on the south of 

 Charchalyk like a gigantic wall, rising 13,000 

 to 14,000 feet, and on the southwest above the 

 limit of perpetual snow. The natives say that 

 it extends southwestward as far as Khotan, 

 and eastward they have never seen its limit. 

 It forms the edge of a high plateau for a dis- 

 tance of 200 miles eastward of Charchalyk. 

 Spurs run out on the north into the desert, 

 with valleys between them six miles long, and 

 three or four broad. To the south of the range, 

 according to the accounts of hunters, was first 

 a plateau over 30 miles broad, and 13,000 feet 

 high, then a mountain range about 13 miles 

 across, next a plain about 27 miles broad, beyond 

 which rises an enormous range of mountains 

 covered with perpetual snow. The face of the 

 Altyn-Tagh Mountains showed formations of 

 sandstone and limestone, with porphyry, and 

 sometimes granite in the higher altitudes. Ex- 



