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

TlIE REGIONS SURVEYISD [Chap. II
I have also ssplained tlle c+nilses wliicl~ rerider such ' termi~~al oases'
Kelllnill*of ,>BSBS r'ball'lolled liable to c11:lnges in position and extent during different
I~eriodr lo Evidenee of' tllvse changes survives in the remains of those
numerous ancient sett.lenients abandoned to the tlesert n,llicll my exploratio~is have ensbled
me to trace. The fact of the most i~nportant among them being found far to the north of
the present. line of 'terminal oases ' ftlr~~ishes definite roof of the progress of desiccation in
this regioil n~itlrin historic.al t,imes. " Tllrrs the (letailed surveys attending those csl)lorat.ions
may claini special interest in ronnection with a 111nc1-1is1ssed g$.rogral)hiral tloeriion.
Stc~iox I\'.-1'II 12 TliR&lIN,\L 1)ISl'RESSION 0)' LOP AN1) 1'1-1 15
TlJH 1C.iN LI.ISIS.
The last of the regions compriseil \vitl~in the Tfirim basin is the Ierminal tlel~ression
of Lop. The smallest in extent and particularly well defincd, it enlribits
Extent depressiou. Of Lop
a ~parirty of interesting Reograpl~ical features. It may be alqxopriately
described as containinc the terminal course of tlle T;irim \\.it11 its fringe
of Iagoous, the marshes in \vhicli its \vat.ers are final!?. lost,, and tlre great salt-eurrustetl bed
of the dried-up Lop sea beyond them, together with t,lie wastes of gravel, drift-sand and
wind-eroded clay which surround it. 111 accordance with the tratlitional application of the
name Lop, itself of very ancient origin, ' we must include in this region also tl~e dune-covered
area to t,he east of the Tcrirn's final course, already referred to as an outlier of the Taklamakin,
as \veil as the area, mostly scrt~bl?- dese~t or gravel 'Sai', wllich extends southwards
of the last sections of the Charcllan river and the Tirim to the foot of the mot~ntains.
Here the streams of Vas11-sl~ahri, Charkhlik and RIirin llave in recent years rendered
it possible for a few slnall settlenlents to resume cult,i~ation near ancient
Popnlation of Lop
area. sites abandoned for centuries. "part from the people in these tiny
oases and the survivors of the scanty nomadic population of Loldiks
('Lop people') fishing and hunting along the terminal Tarim, the whole region is now n.11olly
uninhabited. The same applies also to tlie surrounding areas : in the west the Taklamakan ;
in the north the barren hills of the Kuruk-t:igh ; in the east tlie terminal basin of the Su-loho,
and in the south the arid ranges of the Altin-tigli, an eastern extension of the K'un-lun.
In spite of its desolate character, considerable interest, historical and geograpllical,
attaches to the Lop region. This explains the spec~al efforts devoted to
Prehistoric sea bed. its survey both on my second and third expeditions, notwithstanding
the great physical di5culties besetting topograld~ical work in a region
which for the most part is devoid of drinkable water. 111 the great salt-encrllstetl I~etl, proved
by our surveys to extend for fully 170 miles from soutli-west to north-east with a maximum
width of some 60 miles, we have a visible remnant of that prehistoric aalt sea \vhich was fed
by the drainage of the Tirirn basin during periods when the climate of Central Asia was
moister.
A variety of observations justify tlie assumption that this dried-up terminal basin,
still showing salt bogs in places, even now periodically receives water
Marshesof Lop-nirr. at its south-west end, either I I inundation ~ or percolation, from the
adjoining Kara-koshun marshes of the Tirim. "l'he fact that, these
marshes of 'Lop-rCr'-to use the Mongol designation which from modern Chinese maps and
lo Cf. Anciort Khotna, i. pp. $15 sq., 285 sq., 385
sq., 419 sq.; Seri,rdia, i. pp. 202 sqq.
the local name Lop, cf. Srriadia, i. pp. 318 sqq. In
its present [o~m it is tirat 1.ecordec1 toy Narco Polo,
'I See Sheet No. 14. G. 1,2 for the sites of Uae.
din-oilik, Uzon-tati, etc.; Hos. 18. B. 4; 19. U. 1 for
thr Kiya site.
' Regarding the history and early application of
see Yule, The Book of Ser.,V