XXVI 
Dr. Hoerule —Antiquities from Central Asia. [Extra No. 1, 
one behind the other.” When, during the earlier centuries of the 
Christian era, in consequence of the troubles attending the tribal 
migrations and the Muhammadan conquests, the population became 
reduced and irrigation fell into neglect, the advancing sands gradually 
overwhelmed one outlying settlement after the other, and narrowed 
the belt of settlement and cultivation to its present limits. Many 
traces of these ancient settlements and the water-courses on which they 
lay are still met with in the desert; and some of them have been named 
and described above (pp. xii ff. ) 17 The recollection of the desert having 
been once a fertile and populous country still survives in that region. 
Mr. Macartney, in his demi-official letter, No. 121, dated the 21st July, 
1897, reports that “ it is believed by the natives of Kashgharia that the 
Takla Makan desert was once a fertile and cultivated country. There 
is a tradition that before the introduction of Muhammadanism [in 
the 10th and lltli centuries A. D.], forty-one cities 18 flourished in that 
region under the rule of a certain Zewar Shah, king of Katak, and that 
h J reason of the disbelief of the inhabitants in the religion of the Pro¬ 
phet, which three Imams from Bukhara had come to preach, their 
country was suddenly and miraculously destroyed by a sandstorm. This 
story is told at considerable length in the Taskirali of Kamaluddin, 
Zahiruddiu and Khwaja Arush. 19 The natives believe that the antiques 
which are constantly found in the Takla Makan desert belonged to the 
cities which once formed part of the kingdom of Zewar Shah.” The 
exact site of the city of Katak, here mentioned, is not known, but it prob¬ 
ably lay about three marches or 40 miles south-west of Lop Nor, on the 
great trade-route from China to Khotan, which ran by way of Cbarchan. 20 
Its destruction by the sands occurred about 1330 A.D., and it is prob- 
n A most interesting account of some others which Dr. Sven Hedin discovered 
during his travels in the Takla Makan is given in his book Through Asia. 
On p. 496 of Dr. Sven Hedin’s book Through Asia, another tradition con¬ 
cerning the former existence of “forty towns” is mentioned. 
19 This Taskirah had been transmitted to me in the box which contained the 
consignment M. 3. It has been returned to Mr. Macartney for the purpose of 
translation and eventual publication. 
20 This is the view advocated by the late N. Elias in his Translation of the 
Tarikh-i-Kashidi, pp. 11, 12, footnote. Dr. Sven Hedin discovered a place, called 
Katak, on the banks of the Khotan river (see p. 819 of his book Through Asia) ; 
but he also met with the name further east, near the Yarkand river (see ibidem, 
p. 473), and also further west, “ a long way ” south of the Achik (or old Tarim) river 
(see ibid., p. 850). It would seem probable that katak should really be kottek or 
dead foiest (see ibid., p. 811, 850), and that the name is shahr-i-kottek or ‘ town 
in the dead foiest. Like Takla Makan it is not the proper name of a particular 
place, but a general name common to a number of old sites. 
