1923%20Memoir%20on%20Maps%20of%20Chinese%20Turkistan%20by%20Stein%20s

Chap. IV ] NOTES ON SlIElYl' No. H-1. 9 I
l~istorical tol~ogml~lry is fully rliscursctil ill tioll ill tlw f'ertilc: but nl~ritll o~heu scattered
e?i1111iu, iii pp. I1 1.7 tiijq. along tl~e I'oot of' tlro gravel ~lacih from
Tlre aroa conlprised irr the hl~eot fnlls Togl~~~el~a-Lal*1111k (II.3) to lloang-lunginto
t\ro cli~natically ~rcll-delinctl r.egiorrs, liarig (I).:$) is possible ol~ly tlrr011g11 the use
divided by the easternlnost extension of the of rmhsoil water (krrrr~-mrr) c.orrring to liglrt
T'ien-shan. To tlie north of it stretclr the in the ~rsunlly dry flood-l~ctls.
plateaus nod open valleys of Dxungaria l'lw latter all ter~ninate ill t .1~ {lraiiragewllere'tl~e
amount of precipitatiou received less basin of tl~o Sllona-nor (il.S), found in
maintains sufficient graziug for nonindic Novenrl~er, 1911,, completely clry as far as
existence and in places facilitates cultivation M. Bl~~lramniacl Yaliirl~'s surrey extended.
independent of irrigation. Owing to these To tire ~outll of tlre litle of oafies and the
conditions Barkul has tlrrougl~out historical adjacrnt narrow belt of loess steppe with
times played tlie part of a gate for nomadic desert vegetation, the utterly harreu Pei-shan
invasions threatening the extrcbme north- 'Gobi' stretches its stony or gravel wastes.
west of China. Currcclio~t.~. A. 3. Omit the latitude
While on the northern slc~pesof the snowy obserratio~~ sy111b01 at Oda-nor.
part of the range, known here as Bnrkul- 15. 1 111 the environs of Lake Barkul
tigh, - conifer forest is abundant iA,B.I, C,
D.2), the soutlrern side of tlle range ant1 the
much difficulty was experienced in distinguisl~irt:.
real mars11 areas from sandy g~ound
wide gla.-is of piedmont gravel aloug its foot with vogrtation ullder temporary inundaare
extremely arid. Leaving aside the small tion.
patches of cultivation to be found in the 1). 3. 'l'he naine of :II.N-/IIII/ uear ~I~~IIB
narrow and deep-cut valleys of tlle Karlik- sliould l~e printed red.
tigh eastieards (D.2,3), most of tl~e cultiva-
Aslrono~?~ically obarrt~e~i lrttilrcdes.
1906-08. Himi, Camp 252 (Beg's garden near W. bank of river-led outside
town ; C. 3) ... ... ... ... 42O 48' 44"
Taranchi, Camp 259 (field north of hamlet; B. 3) ... ... 53' 6' 33'
1913-15. Barkul, Camp 236 (temple beyond N.W. corner of Chinese town;
B. 1) ... ... ... ... 43' 36' 29"
NOTES ON SHEET No. 35. (SU-LO-HO L)ELTA)
The surveyed part of this sheet shoms ~ -
the ground along the eastern portion of tlre
1906-08 map ; bat account must be taken
also of the correction, already referred to
desert route from the Lop region to Tun- under Sheet No. 30, which the reconsiderhuang,
together with the geographically and ation of the triangnlatiol~ of 1913 indicates
archsologically interesting area containing for tlle position of JIirlu. Owing to prothe
terminal course and mars11 basin of tlie longed esl~lorntior~s along the ancient
So-lo-ho. The caravan track leading from Chinese L~III~,~, con~paratirely numerous lati-
Tun-huang to the southern shore OF the t,ude observations {rere available for the
dried-up Lop sea bed was followed lot-11 in gronncl near the terminal course of the
1007 and 19 1-I., while the nuinerous detailed Su-lo-110.
surveys to the north and soutll of it were In view ui' the special geographical
also made on the second and third espedi- interest wl~icli, as stated above, pp. 30 sq.,
tions. attaches to the well-defined valley stretching
In eon~pilation the several traverses clown from near Besll-toghrak to the easternalong
the desert track were fitted upon tlie most hay-like extension of the dried-up Lop
positions adopted for Miran and An-hsi. The sea bed, a line of exact levelling was carried
longitude values of Besh-toghrak, as deriv- from a point north of Kom-ltoduk, marked
ed thus from the route from Mirin, and as by C. XCYIII (Sheet No. 32. D. 4), to the
obtained from the traverse from BItmish- western edge of the ancient lacustrine basin
bulak agreed within a few minutes. The showing strings of 3fe~as and wet sand to
mean adopted between them, circ. 92- 46' the east of Besh-toghrak (B. 3). The
40", falls short by only two minutes of the heights shown along this line of levelling
longitude shown in Sheet No. 70 of the agaiust Camps X~VIII-CII, as well as the