SVEN HEDIN'S EXPLORATIONS 

 CENTRAL ASIA* 



IN 



IT will be remembered that Dr. Hedin 

 traveled down the Yarkand and 

 Tarim Rivers to the lyob Nor re- 

 gion (1899-1900), in which he made 

 many excursions of the greatest value 

 to geographical science ; but what de- 

 lighted him most was the verj- important 

 discovery he made of an ancient lake 

 bed which strongly confirmed the theory 

 he advanced after his first journey in 

 Central Asia, that the ancient lyob Nor 

 Lake was not identical with the lake 

 which commonly bears that name at 

 the present day. Writing from Tiumen 

 (Temirlik), at the end of October, 1900, 

 Dr. Hedin announced his intention of 

 making two more journeys before he set 

 out on the long march home, one among 

 the mountains to the west of Temirlik, 

 the other to the ancient lake bed he had 

 discovered and the Kara-Koshun I^ake, 

 which he identified with Prjevalsky's 

 Ivob Nor. It is with these two expedi- 

 tions that his latest letters deal. 



Starting on the first journey, to the 

 great or westerly Kum-Kul, earl}^ in 

 November, Dr. Sven Hedin crossed and 

 measured these mountains on three lines. 

 He passed through absolutel}^ unknown 

 country, but the excursion was a com- 

 paratively short one, lasting only a 

 month, and by December 12 he was 

 ready for the more important march. 

 On this he had with him nine men and 

 eleven camels and ten horses. Khan- 

 ambal was the first point for which he 

 made, and this he reached by a rather 

 difficult mountain road, lying to the 

 south of Littledale's road, which was 

 struck at Khan-ambal. After making 

 a circular march to Sirting, round the 

 magnificent Anambar-ula and back to 

 Khan-ambal, Dr. Sven Hedin proceeded 

 across the desert straight to the north. 



and passed through the mountainous 

 region which constitutes the western 

 continuation of the Kurruk Tagh. He 

 was able to map the whole of his route 

 from Temirlik, and found that the exist- 

 ing maps were quite incorrect. 



During the latter part of the march 

 the little company of travelers had a 

 very trying experience. For twelve long 

 and arduous days, during which they 

 pushed forward as rapidly as possible 

 and covered, in spite of the slow rate of 

 traveling necessitated by the careful ob- 

 servations which Dr. Sven Hedin was 

 continually taking, about twenty miles 

 a day, not a drop of water was found. 

 Fortunately, on the third day the trav- 

 elers came across some snow, and this 

 just enabled the camels to last out until 

 water was reached ; otherwise they must 

 inevitably have succumbed. After this 

 Dr. Hedin, with the aid of the map he 

 had compiled in March, 1900, when he 

 made his great discovery in connection 

 with the Ivob Nor problem, was able to 

 find Altimishbuluk quite easily, and 

 from there to proceed with all his cara- 

 van to the ruins on the northern shore 

 of the ancient lake bed. The camels 

 were heavily laden with ice, and after 

 they had been sent back to the ' ' bulak, ' ' 

 Dr. Hedin was able to stay among the 

 ruins for a week. During this time he 

 was busily engaged compiling maps and 

 plans, taking photographs, gathering 

 together collections of various kinds, and 

 making excavations among the ruins. 

 The discoveries he made were both nu- 

 merous and important, but he thinks that 

 perhaps his most curious ' ' find ' ' was 

 some twelve complete letters written on 

 paper in Chinese. They were in a mar- 

 velous state of preservation, ever 3' sign 

 being perfectly distinct and legible. 



*From The London Times. 



