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

Sec. iii.1 'I'IIIS OASISS Oh' 'rII1C TAHIM BASIN 4.5
In the ~o11111art1 n~arginal Iiell ol' the Irasiu, htrc~fchirrg along the foot of the K'IIII-Inn
from Kargl~xlik to the, 1,011 tract, contlitions differ in various ways.
Wo~~tl~err~ butt of onsee Here only one oabia of' real importancc IS found, that of Khotari, and
the rest it1 most cases arc scparatcrl from each other by connidcrable
expanses of true desert. To the east of Niya, over a r~larcl~ing distance of some 350 miles to
Vish-shahri, the westernmost hamlet of Lop, tl~erc. is met now only the ~inglt! small oaain of
Charchan, and our llislorical records show evl,n this to have beer1 in abeyance agairr a11t1 again
during intervals of cent~~ries. "
( :eograpl~ical conditio~~s dulj reHectecl by the map fully account for the thinness, or
else the complete absence, of cultivated areas along the wl~ole belt.
Khotnn onsia. With the single significant exception of Khotan, all oases ir~ the plains
are sep~ratcd from the debouchure of' the rivers which supply their
irrigation by great stretches of absolutely sterile gravel forming the glacis of the K'un-lun.
But in the case of the Khotan tract the vast volume of water brought down by the Yurungand
I.
295 sqq.
See Sheets No. 9. D. 2: 14. A. 2. For a detniled
nnnlysis of the physical aspects of the Khotnn onsis,
cf. Ancient Khofaa, i. pp. 124 sqq.
7 Regnnliug the general conditions governiug
irrigntiosl in the iegioa from Knrghalilr to Niyn, cf.
III). i,bsrrvations ill .f~jcient h%ola~t, i. pp. 94 nqq., 125
sq.; for n pnrticnlnrl inrtructire locnl instance as to
rbe irnporlnncr of the supply of kavrr-sn, cf. Swinrlin,
i. pp. 1'02 sqq.
Q~ee Sheets No. 9, 14, 19,23.
Cf. the remarks, Asrienl KlioLan, i. pp. 204 aq.,
regsrding the formation of the loess soil of Kholar~.
ns (letermined from microscopically analyzed specimeus;
also i. pp. 588 sq. for Prof. de Lo'czy's analyria.