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TOPOGRAPHY ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. 78
Another important fortress is Maralbashi, lying east of Kashgar,
near the
junction of the Kashgar-daria and Yarkand-daria, and at the junction of the
routes connecting the chief cities in the Tarim basin. North-west of it the small
town of Ush-turfan, with a garrison of 2,000 men, guards the route leading over
the Badal Pass to the Issik-kul
(15,000 feet) valley. But the most important
a fortified
place at the southern base of the Tian-shan is Ak-su (" White Water "),
town at the foot of a bluff, formerly overlooking the Ak-su River, which now flows
nearly 10 miles farther west. Beyond Ak-su, Bai, Kucha, Korla, Karaahar, and
all the other towns of Chinese Turkestan lie at some distance from the Tarim,
which here flows through the heart of the desert over 60 miles south of the
Fig. 28. YAHKAND AND YANUI-SHAHH.
Scale 1 : 96,000.
1. College. 2. Old Residence of the Khan. 3. Magazines. 4. Old Citadel.
^^^ 3,300 Yards.
advanced spurs of the Tian-shan. They are all small places,
with little trade or
industry.
Nor are there any towns on the Lower Tarim, or near Lake Lob, although the
ruins of ancient cities are here both numerous and extensive. The remains of a
place called Kok-nor lie concealed amid the reeds of a river three days' journey
south-west of Lake Lob, and contain a temple with an image, apparently, of
Buddha, still visited by the natives. They report that the statue and temple walls
arc adorned with precious stones and ingots of gold and silver, which no one dares
to touch for fear of being struck dead by an invisible hand. The present " Tarimtzi,"
or inhabitants of the lake, reduced to a few hundred families, have nothing but
wretched reed hovels, with a few fishing boats and nets. The dead are laid on a
skiff, with another reversed above it to form a coffin, and with them is placed half
a net to fish with in the other world, the second half being kept by the relatives in
memory of the departed.
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