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

12 HISTORY OF SUltVEYS [Chap. I
of high s11or.s eastwnnls offort.11 for t,he survey of a very imperfect.1~ known ]>ortion of the
map overlooking t.he wc~starr~most atfluents of the Kara-kfish river.
Itfim Sing11 t.hen crossed t,l~at. range to t,l~e sont,ll by the Kilifiu pass ( 17,910 feet ),
w~c~larly - . osetl by t.rndels to Iiatlik but at t.l~at season still impracticable
for carav:lns, ant1 :~scendnl tile Kara-kisll v:tllcy to its junction wit,h
Pmn~e of
Biud,l-tibh~,lIl,\.all,
t.11~. ~vell-knon,n liara-l;oram routr. " fIcrc 11e sreuretl Kirgliix guides
to the H~II~III-~,~~II-~I~\\.~II,
mllicll 11:ltl assca cad out of usc for nlany years ant1 Ilatl 11ot been
cross~l :lny Iil~own lravc4ler cxsrcl~t the ill-fat,etl Dr. Adolf Pclllngint\veit irr 1862.
The ~,ass:t=e (17,750 fcct) was r~~eccssfully accon~~~lisl~ed in the face of great tlifficulties,
including tlle Jcscerit ovcr a large and inucll- crevassrd glacier on the nortllern side. Vt
brougllt t.he sllrvc.yor to the valley of I'nslla, previously 1;rlon.n ol~ly from ~~ative reltorts.
Inaddit,ioll to sou~e cu1tiv:ltion lo\vcr down, it 11ro\~etl to ~~oss"rs 111orc~ :thuntl;nlt alpine
grazing t,llan is found elsc\vl~erc in tllcse liigll P'un-lun vallr) s. An nsccut to t,lle Ak-t8shdanrfi11
( 15,390 feet.) I~cru~ittnl a tlistant, view to be gained of the deep-cut Kara-liish valley.
It consists here and for a consitlerable distance lo\ver do\vn of a s~lccession of narrorv
gorges c1t~itr ilnpnssable escc1)t in the depth of winter when a route
lirs a]) t,l~e frozen rivcr. In order to gain Kllotan, our appoint,cd
~,"~~-'fi?'~~
meeting l~l:rcc, R6nl Sing11 I~ad to take a difficult routc to the 11ort1i-east
passing over a serics of hiKh s111us \vl~ich fall precipitously to t,I~e Iiara-liisll river. l0 A
number of daugerous crossings of biz glacier-fetl t,ribnt,aries, sncll as the liariz-daryi\ and
Paniz-daryc, were ilecessary ; bnt ill the end the stu.\-eyor's small party arrived safely at the
foot of our triangulation station of 1900 on the Uliighat-dawin. " Thence Kllotan town
was gained by the route previously follon.ed.
I myself llad arrived tl~ere a few days before, on .lugust 5th, from Kiik-yBr. I had
surveyed the outern1ost footllills of the K'uu-lun with the oases of Yiil-arik, Ushak-bishi,
Kiliin, Sanjo, l'uski and l)u\\ra, which lie at the debonchures of the rivers descending from
the main range, I? before I struck the high roar1 by Piilma at the foot of the great gravel
glacis.
TIre lieat of the l~lains still precluded operations at a~lcient sites in tlre desert. Hence
1 was free to set out into the mountains to the south, as soon as the
Retorn to K'un-llln survcyor Ilad had a coultle of dajd rest, in order to renew and extend our
of Iillotan.
esplorations i~r the Karanghu-tig11 region. Our jonrney as far as Nissa
led necessarily by the same route as follo\ved in 1900 in the inverse tlirection, a c:i~.cnmstance
which lessened regret at the persistent dust haze now hiding all the distant snowy peaks of
the main range to the south. No fresh l~lane-table work was done by tlle surveyor along this
already surveyed route. But I tvas able to profit by renewed visits to my plloto-theodolite
of I900 and to record or1 lrly lyanorama reproduetions then a\vaititlg l~ublication
topographical details within the actual Ilorizon gathered from the I~illmen aetillg as our
guides. l3
Survey work was re-started from above Nissa and pushed up rvithout serious obstruetion
on the ])art of the local LTirl~liks' to the head of tlle vallcv where
Qlaciersahoveh'~ssa. it is closed by high snowy spurs descending htraixht from the main
range. I' Two glaciers of imposing size are here the main feeders of
the Nissa river. On August ]!It11 Iascended the larger one, to an elevation of over 1(;,000
feet, and ascertained that it had its source ou the north-eastern slopes of the triangulated
peak 3/52 a!, 23,071 feet high, wl~ich, as subsequeut surveys showed, forms a nodal point
at the junction of two main ranges of the K'un-l~n.~~ At the same time the survey now
8 See Gl~eet No. 9. A. 3. 4.
see hhcet No. 9. 13. 4; forsonle cletnils extracted
at Khotan from Bai liiln Si~~gh, cf. Briert Cathay,
i. p. 174.
IU Cf. Sheet No. 9. C. 3, 4.
See ubove, p. 7.
l1 See 8heets Xos. 6. C, D. 2; 9. A-C. 2; Derert
Cafhuy. i. pp. 112 sqq.
Bee Mountain Panoramat, Psnorsms III.VI
with rxl~lanstovy notea ou pp. 18-26, also ibid., In.
Iruduc.tory ~Votr, p. vi.
Scc Sheet KO. 9. C. D. 1; Desert Cathay, i. PI'.
182 sqq., with FITS. 57. 58.
" For the nsccnt on this glncicr, c:nlled by me the
Otroghtll Glacier from the chief grazing ground lower
down, cf. Desert Cathu,y, i. pp. 188 sqq.; also the
pnnoramic view 11 and Figa. 69, 60.