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

Sec iv.] 'llHl itD I':XYI':I)JTION, I9l:;-l> :17
I renched Singer t~y the route already surveyed ill 1!N7 alrd, aftl:r scc.i~ril~g t.l~csre .\tnlurrahim's
yo~~~rgest brother as guitle, I ~)rocc~edetl ivt~st~i~r~lk: to (:~~III~IIU lo~alities \r here traces
of earlier occt~pation werct rc!l)orletl. l'assing t1111s l'rorn 1"o-ch'Bng-tzrr to Sl1i111li I \\.a.i able to
map ilitercsti~~g nrrtl :IS yet. ~~i~s~~r\~cyc~rl ~ro1111cl ill tile rno~~ntains; Ilicair r~l~gerl ~RIIX(.S an11
deeply erotletl valloys \\.ore ill striliillg coi~trast, wit11 the \vorit-tlo\vrl II~)I:LIIII~ ~ttvt in tile Ki~ri~ktiigli
i'11rt11~r cast. 'I'II(I KII:LII~OI 11~:~b.h II:I~*(~I OII tliis roi~te SPCIII~~~ to cs~~(~~~0 10,000 f'cet and
probahly ~.el)resclit tl~c greatest rlewtio~t of' tllc Kuruk-tiiyh. 7"
1 tl~r~r 111:~de ~ny wily ~o~~iIi-~~ast\vi(r~ls over Larre~i gravel l)latra~~r to t11(* +all hjlring of
Y.irtlang-Lnlali at, t,hc sout.11 foot of the Kuruk-tigli and by the tiecontl week of March entered
thc \\~a.terless tlesert to thr so~~tli. l3esirlrr ctsploring certs.in nncicnt burial grouncls I corr~pletell
the stirtrey of tl~e K~~rnI~-tl;~t~yi, the llrietl-up river-t~l.Il \r.hicl~ olwe carrie(1 tlte water of the
Koncl~c-tla~yi to tllr Lou-lair siteh ant1 tile ilr~cirnt tlrlta to the -or~tli.
The (lay after ~ r ~ retnrn y to YArliang-b~~la 1 war rcjoinell by -1friz-gnl \\hose bafe
arrival at this al)l)oil~tcd desert. n~eeting phce I hat1 been eagerly awaiting.
Af~.Be-g~sl's 811i.VPgB
dol,g d,.,cd-up Some anxiety about the safety of the over~lae little party was justified
sun,
by the truly forbi~ltling nature of tile groilntl hc l~atl to traverrc and the
length of the strain 111lt. on our brave camels. Afriz-g111 hat1 c;~r~.ietl tl~ro~~gli the clifticult
programme laid down by I I I ~ \\,itli rrmarkablt, conipletrness and ii~telligence, his success on
this survey alone ful!y justifjinx tlie award to 11ini two years later of the Jlacgregor Silver
Medal by the Jntc?lligenee l)e~,artment of the Indian C;el~cr.al Staff'.
Gnitled by a third brother of Abtlr~rral~ini he first gained Xltmirh-b111ak by tlie most
direct, track leading due south of Deghar. ?"Thence 11r snrveyetl certain ancient reniains in
the extreme north-east of the once-\\atered Lon-Ian area for tlic examination of \\~liich I had
been unable to spare tinie a year car1ic.r. Keplenishing liis sul)ply of ice froni the salt springs,
he struck out to the south-east for the point nrliere my exl~lorations of tlie preceding year had
shown the ancient Chinese route from Lou-Ian to Tun-1111ang to have entered the salt-encrusted
bed of tlie Lop sea. 5; I'rorn there Ile traced its shore-line to tlie south-west, ~naking l~lenty
of interestin: observat,ions on inlets and termilia1 flood-beds once carryiug water from the
Kuruk-dary~. Finally he reached, at Chainut-ko1, the northern edge of the area iu which tlie
spring floods of the dyiug Tirim spread thernsel\,es out to undergo rapid evaporation in
lagoons and marshes. 7' He arrived, as I had intentled, jut before the usual inundation could
interfere \vit,li liis progress to ground aff'orcling some scanty grazing for his hard-tried camels.
After a few (lays' rest he turned riortliwards into tile wind-eroded desert and striking
1,,, tOl .,,, ,,,,, the line of the soutliernmost branch of the ' Dry River ' traced more
Tiriiu mrtrdtrs to *Dry remains of the ancieut settlement discovered along it a year before.
Hlver.'
Finally after crossing my route of December, 1906, in an area of for-
midable dunes, he gained tlie main riverine belt of the Kuruk-daryii along the foot of the
outermost ICuruk-tiigh. 7" From this escel,tionally difficult exl)loratiou \vlricll had kept
Afriz-gul and his three 17111cliy cornpsnions from contact with any human being for a month
and a lralf, lie brought back, bcsides interesting arcli;rological finds, an accurate plane-table
survey and careful records of topographical details such as 1 could not have hoped for from any
of my surveying assistants employed on this or my previons espeditions.
Froin Ysrdang-ljulak we movecl \vestwards to the point know11 as Yi~~q-p'an where
Erplo~*ations nrar
Yitrz-p'an.
tlie ancient bed of the Kuruk-daryii is crossed by the TurfBn-Lop track.
'Illere a short halt was made in order to explore interesting remains at and near a fortified station situated at the deboochure of the dried-up
stream of Shindi and occupied during the early period when it guarded tlie ancient Chinese
high road from Lou-Ian. 'I'l~e same ~p~~ortunity was used also for surveying tlie belt of driEt-
i0 See Sheets Nos. 29. A. I, 2. 1%. I ; 26. 1). 2. The
hypsornetrical height memnrements taken by me on
this route hnd not been worhed out at the tirue wheu
these map sheets were cc,nrpiled.
7' See Shcet ho. 29. A. 2,3, U. 3; cf. above p. 28.
S e Sheets Nos. 28. U. 3,4; 29. I). l,2.
See *beet Nu. 32. A, E.3; cf. above p. 30.
7' For Afriz-gul'e route from Altmish-hulnk as
marked by Camps C. ccxxxvii a - ccxliv a, see Sheets
Iioa. 31. A.3,4, 8.3; 29. 11. 4; 30. C. 1. The details
of Afrh-gnl's ylnne-table traverse are on this route as
OII all his independent surveys snpplemented by a
foll and exact record of topographicnl features in
the form of a roote report in Urdu from which I
hope to publish extracts.
i5 bee Sheet Xu. 29. A, 8.3. L'. 3,C