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

26 HISTORY OF SUII\'EYS [Chap. I
October 9th I was free to set ant for lily first \vintrc?r's worli in the desert. The region
the drier]-up ancient, Lop sea \\-as its main gonl, anti for various reasons that easternmost
corner of tile Tfirim basin 11ad to be re:~cl~etl by rile tiis lihotan atld beyoncl it by the
already familiar route skirting the sout,hern edge at' t11(, Taklarnakti~~. Opportnnit,ies for
topogrnphical work on new grountl were t1111s conlined to tire jo~~rnt-y from Klishgar to
Kbotsn, ant1 thc t,inle available for it \ns linrit,ed.
I tirst mo\-etl due east to the oasis of Maril-b;isl~i 11y an n~~snrveyed ronte \\~l~irl~ local
tradition vaguely ren~rtnbered as Iiaving been in use for trnfiic dnring
,
earlier perio~ls of Cl~inrse dominatiot~, inst.ead of follo\ring t,l~e resent
11izI1 ' road ' along the lower Kiisl~gar river. Thc route led boyoncl the
oases of Astin-firtnsh and Kalta-yailali closely along tire foot of thc steep and
barren l~ill chain 'sl~ich fortns here the soutl~er~inlost ran~l~art of tl~e T'ie~l-shall. Y'he fact
that most, of the desert, glacis of this hill c11ait1 is no\v \vl~olly n~ithout water added to the
geogral~l~ical interest of the series of snlall r~rined sites ant1 t1r.1. river beds we succeeded in
tracing Ileal the old roate. Considerable changes within I~istot~ical times in tlie course of the
ternlinal Kial~gar-daryli were irrdicatecl also bv tlre survey made on a reco~~naissance wlricl~
tooh- me from 3Iari1-blishi to the detached l~ills of the U6l-tCIgl~ ant1 l~il-tR=h i ~ r tlre desert
nortll-eastwards. '
Onr snrreys of 190s seerned to justii'y tlic belizf that tlre Afnzir-tiigl~ hill chain
traced then for abont 20 ~niles fro111 the \vest barrl; of tlie lil~otan river
senrc'l for eroded bed in the Taklan~akiu was in ~:.t.ological strt~cture but a ren~nant of
desert muge.
an ancient range startin: at an :u~gle from t.he ontern~ost TLien-shall
near Jlaril-bishi autl once extending in a south-easterly directiou across tlre 'l'nlilamalt~n. ';
That tl~e bold islaud-like hills wl~ielr rise from the desrrt plain to the east 2nd north-east of
Maril-bislri and whiclr mark the north-11-ester11 e~rd of that assnniecl anricnt lrill range, have
been carreti out. and isolated b!. the actio~~ of wind-tlrive~~ sand, a most potent -. I~llyxical
factor tl~ro~~~l~oot tlre l'srim basin, nas clearly i~rovetl by the observatious n~:~d,. OII the
above reconnaissance. Tile same 1,rocess prolongecl tlrrongl~ geological ages \vould ol,vio~~sl~
account for ni~ch bigger l)renl