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

36
HISTORY 01' S~IRV ISYS [Chap. I
ahielr Lil Simgll bclievml to be identical wittlr l'k.1/75 E near Bfislr-kurgllin, fixetl I)y him
more tllnll year earlier at bile eastern end of Itis K6un-lrtn trianji~lat~ion. '" 'l'l~~ts t,he hopedfor
jlllrc~tior~ bet,\vecn this ttnd the Kttrttk-tiiglr sc~t.ion of t,riatrgrrl:rtiot~ seetned ;rchic~vc~d.
lly 1)ecelober 24.tl1, 191.5, Ile startetl frutr~ t,l~ir 11oint on t,lrc tlort,lrern edge or the Lop
drsert. basiu ~~ortI~-east~.~~rcIs
ill order to sr:rrrlr for :I series of s:~lt springs
Crpl0b:klion ~rf Parrrrll
Iiuvuk.ti~11. slru~vn otr tht, l~ussi~~n iisia.tic 'I'rar~s-i'rontiw 1nal8 of 30 vcrsts to the
iuclr. in tl~tt ~~~res~~lorctl caste1.n ~~ort.~on of t,l~e Lrrrul;-l5gI1, utr tllr basis
of int;~rin:rtiot~ collected 1)y C'oluncl lio~loff in IS93 i'ronr tr:rti~e I~rtrrtt~rs. .\btlrrri.:rhim's
os11ert gtrid:tncc c,nabletl LiI Singlr 10 rent11 tlreir lint, 1111 ~vl~olly ut~snrvc.yed gtountl. ''5 Not
s:~tisfir~l \virh tl~is Ire Fuahrtl l~ir \vs!. to the nort.11-east ;tc.ros?; unl;no\rn grountl tle\,oitl of even
tlre scant,iest, vegetat,ion, until tlrt, coml,lctt: esllnostion of the fuel store, uec~tletl Sur n~eltin~
his ice, forced him to toru again to the trort,li-\vest from 11eyond loligitudc Y lo. "G Al'ter a
nunrbcr of marclles t,o the nort,l~ ht, picked up tu~ old tlerert, track once rrsc~l hy lrrtuters of
wiltl eannels from Hami, before certain salt springs h:ld dried up, and followe~l it tlown to the
salt marsh that. forms the deepest, part of the Turfin basin. Ile then earefr~lly surveyed this
terminal marsh moving along t,he soutlrern slrorr aud talting observations at, tlifferent points
with the ~nereurial barometer. G7 These have ulade it possible to determ~ne its tltyreshion below
sea-level \vtt.lr greater accuracy than before as close to 1000 feet at the drepebt 1)oint.
011 Itis return from tllis long desert expedition which for the Ilartlships faced can
scarcely bare been surpassed even in tlre annals of the Survcy of India,
Surreya in rrrsterr~
E,,mt-tngll. Lil Sing11 allon.ed himself but a few days' rest at our Icara-klroja base,
and by February 4t,h set out afresh for the Krlruk-tfigl~. Tbe main
task I had in view was the estensiorr of the triangulat,ion from the Singer base westwards to
the foot of t,he 'll'ien-shan near Lorla. In addition as mrrclr as l~ossihlr of hitherto onsurveyed
ground iu the western part of the Ktwuk-tlgh was to 11c ~isitetl. Iierrce L:il Singh's route to
Singer led this time through t,he sontlr-\restrrtr err(l of the 'l'ur1'.;111 lxtsiil to the gorge of
SU-bishi and from tlre station of Ujme-dong ntm. its top to the south-east. "'
Tlre severest cold had now passed ; also tlle Kurnk-tigh to the \vest of Singer proved
less arid. But the dust-haze raised by the incipient season of sand-storms and in parts the
very rugged eonficnration of t,he hill ranges proved very serious obstacles to triangulation.
Hence La1 Slngh's work \vhich from Azglrao-bulak on the Sinzer-Tikenlik route to where he
regained his own track of 1907 near the Eljigan-dawin lay over wholly uusurveyed
was not. completed till our reunion at Korla in tile beginning of April.
On February 6, 1915, I sent off Afraz-gul Khan from Kara-khcja to the Lop desert
supplemen,ary for supplementary surveys ill t,he easternmost l~ortion of the once
in Lop deaerl and occupied Lou-Ian region and along the dried-up ancient sea-bed to the
Kuruk-tQh.
east and south of it. I myself', after dispatching my large convoy of
antiques to Kishgar and making a detailed survey of the important site of Ysr-khoto, the
earliest capital of Turfan, set out for the Kuruk-tlgh due southwards by February 16th.
Muhammad Yaktib was left behind to complete the one-inch survey of the central port.ion of
the district.
" See the intersected peak marked with hei~ht
of 13170 feet, in Sheet No. 30. D. 2.
In Major K. Mason's notes (see below Appendix
A), on the triangnlation executed by K. B. L31
tiingh, para. 2, a full explanntion ban been given of
the reasons, derived from n re-examinatiou of the
compotation of the work both in the K'un-Inn aud
Knrdt-tigh sections, whicll make it highly probable
that the ideotificat~on of tl~e point Pk. 1/75 a was
fanltg. There an account will also be found of the
circnmstances which previous to that re-examinntion
had led to some of Lil Singh's triangolnted stations
and points, purticolarly in the northern or Knroktigh
section, being shown iu the published sheets,
Noa. 26,28, with values adjosted on the assnmption
of that distaot connection between the Astin-holak
base and l'k. 1/75 R being right,.
The ccrordiuates of statioun and point8 ill both
scctions, as correctly derlr,ed from the observations
independent of thst connection, are shown in the
Lirt 1f Latiluden, Lon,qi/tidex, ctc., of Appendix A.
There the values, wrongly adjoeted owing to the sop-
posed counectioil, are also given to aid identification
of the points on the published map sheets.
Li For the line of these springs from Yetim-bnlak
nortl~ward, bnt rarely visited by hunters of wild camels
from Ileghsr nnd Singer, sce Sheet No. 32. A.
1-3.
66 See Sheet No. 32. A. 1, B. 1,2, U. 1.
6? See Sheet No. 28. C, D. 3.
" See Sheets Nos. 28. A. 3, 4; 29. A, B. 1, 2.
" See Sheets Nos. 29. A, B. 2; 26. A. 1. B-D. 2