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

8 HISTORY OF SL'RVEYS [Chap. I
Irkall ill tile west to tile 11igl1 ice-peaks towering above tllc Yur~ung-kilrl~ headwaters in the
~out11-east. Amoug tl~esr points I included also certain 1)ealts in the much-eroded ooter bills
towards Khotsn by which the longitude of the towu itself might be acc~~rately determined
thereafter when a cl~auce of escept.ionally clear wcatlrer offered.
Two days later a secoud hill station was a~ce~~detl on a 11igl1 ridgc abovc the Kunat
pss (10,820 ft.), and the eqnally distant views there obtained renilered it. possible to secure
triangles to a11110st all those points beforr the veil of dust carried 1111 by a rising \\rind iinally
hid a11 but the nearest grouud from our horizon. Sobsequent experience has uliown how
serions is tlle obstnrle presented to survey operations by the fog-Iikc haze of t.his region. All
along the southern edge of the Tgrini basin and tlre adjoining n~o~urtainl; it. ral.c,ly lifts except
for short. periods of the late natomn :u~l winter.
After a short halt at. KI~otau necessitated by manifold preparations fol. our winter
canlpaigu 1 tliapatclled Rin~ Sing11 on November 23rd for sulq)lement-
Trinncnlntion townrcla
linr,,,,ghu-tiXh, ary triangulation work in tlre mountains and for a surrey of thc high
range stretching east of '31uz-t~gh '. l'l~is \\~oolil fill the gap bet,weeu
our preriot~s wrrey aud the tt.:tet explored by Captain Densy about PGlur aud along the
K'LIII-lun furtlrer east. In accordance wit11 ~IJ' instroctions HGm Sing11 retnrneil to oar
foru1t.r route to\vards Karaugl~o-tiigl~ and established t,ri;~u~ulatioo stations first orr ;I promineut
peak (14,900 ft.) above the UlCtgb-dawin over1ool;ing the Uuya valley, 'J and
subsequently on tile edge of the high plateau above the Pisha valley (T3pe statiou, 13,Y-19 ft,.)
closc to the point \yl~ere tlre trncl; to Karanghu-tigh falls steeply into tile deep-cut gorge of
tlle Yurung-ktish %.
Ile tlreu made his waj by the Igin-danltiu, at the head of the Pislla valley, across the
range runuiug due north from 'Rluz-t;'\g11'. Beyond, t,liis c~tlminates in
Snrvr). of rnnpe S. of
Kbo,un.Kel.l).a, the couspicuous sno\vy massif of the Tikelili-tQgh (Pk.3/60~) and iinally
loses itself on the broad piedn~ont gravel south-east of the
Khotan oasis. Further east he proceeded across the open plateau-like valleys in whic11
rise the heacl-waters of the rivers irrigating the oases bet\seeu Iil~ota~~ and Beriya. Keeping . -
there on high grouud, uotwitl~stnntlil~g the bitter colcl of the season, 11e accurately n~npped
the northern slopes of the outer maill K'UII-11111 range as far east as the vallcy above l'iirt-lniri~n
(IniAmlar). " Fro111 stations eetabl~shed on broad elevntrcl spurs between the glacier-fed
sonrces of the Yulung and Num rivers Ire triangulated a number of pealts on this part of the
range rising to heights above 3 1,000 feet.
\\'hen the increasing winter cold stopped further \vorl; at Ligli altitudes, Hiuui Sing11
descended to the uarrow bell of oases 1v11ich strctclles east. of Cl~ira. Tl~ey lie along the line
where the subsoil water absorbed 011 the gravel slopes to the south conles to light again in
springs and reuclers cultivatiou possible here and there, before being finally lost in the drifting
sands of the TalclamaliBn. From Keriya, the largest of the oases, Ile turnccl nortl~wards
and, following the Keriya river don~n a previously ~unsurveyed portion of its coursr, rejoined
me on December 23rd at the desert site of 13andhn-oilik. 26
Since our separation I had myself been first occupied mitlliu the central portion of the
Khotau oasis by surveys needecl for clearing up inanifold questions
Trnrerses to
Dl,dnol,lk concerning its historical topography. 97 Subsequently I set out by
December 7th into the desert north-eastwards for my main task, the
exploration of sand-buried ancient sites. The plane-table traverse carried out by me along my
route to the ruins of DaodBu-oilik, the first of these, a distance of about 120 miles, had lain
almost wholly through desert and for the last six marches over bare dunes, altogether very
deceptive ground. Rim Singh's survey from Khotau to the same place had been brought
*J See Sheet No. 14. A. 4, where the triangnlation
station ryrnbol end tlre route 1i11c leading to thc po,ition
of rh~n l~ill station linuc been omitted.by an
" See Sheet No. 14. C. 4.
ZG Cf. Btlins of Xhvfns. pp. 282 sq.; Sheet No.
14. C. 1.
overfigl~t.
'= See 8l1eet Xo. 9. n. 4, and for portio~ls of a
photogmph~c panornma 11sre taken in 19U6, Dererl
CoUuy. i. F1g8. 66. 67. , .
9' Bee Sl~eet No. 14. A. 3, 4.
?' See insct mnp (Portions of hhofnn oasis, scale
4 miles to 1 inch) in map ~ .f Aticie111 Ghoton; for tile
location 01 l~ifitorically known points, etc., cf. Ancia~~f
Xhoto~b, i. Chap. TII~, seo. i-iii.