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64
EAST ASIA.
Lob-nor is now found. Even at the dawn of history real inland seas still survived
in this region, and the Tian-shan Nan-lu and Tian-shan Pe-lu on either side of the
eastern extremity of the Tian-shan range had both of them their vast lacustrine
basin, now represented by the small lakes scattered over the plains. The unanimous
tradition of the natives, both in Eastern Turkestan and West China, speaks of the
gradual exhaustion of these lakes, and the disappearance of the waters may have
possibly suggested the idea of an underground channel, popularly supposed to
convey the outflow of Lob-nor to the sources of the Hoang-ho, 10,000 feet
higher up.
It is very remarkable that the gradual desiccation of Lob-nor has not rendered
it completely saline,
like most of the other lakes scattered over the old marine
basin. Its water is at present fresh and sweet, and according to the local accounts
SBf
Fig.
24. LOB-NOB.
According to Prjevalsky. Scale 1 : 2,650.000.
89 L
. 60 Miles.
it gradually diminished in volume towards the middle of the present century, again
increasing about the year 1870. Like the Tarim, it abounds in fish of two species,
which the natives take by means of artificial canals and reservoirs. During the
floods the fish penetrate into these reservoirs, where they are easily captured after
the subsidence of the waters.
THE TAKLA-MAKA* DESERT.
Although the extent of the desert and waste tracts in Chinese Turkestan has
not yet been accurately determined, there can be no doubt that they are vastly in
excess of the cultivated and inhabited lands. These are nearly everywhere limited
to a narrow strip of a few thousand yards at most along the river banks, beyond
which the still unexplored wilderness stretches uninterruptedly beyond the horizon.
Here we already enter the Gobi, although it is unknown by this name in Eastern