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

48 TIlE REGIONS SURIPYEI) [Chap. II
tile Bltill-t,ngll glacib. 10 It is apl,arently in this bay that the dupression reaches it.x
deepest point, and Itere it I;I:I~ br sup1)ose1l in enrlirr geological timer to have rereired also
the drainnge from t,l~e terluinal basin of tht. Su-lo-110 mhiell adjoins eastwarcl. Down the
sootl1er11 side of this valley ant1 beyond along the clearlp market1 sootlrern allore-line of the
ancient. sea, I~ads the diffienlt desert trarlr from 'Pun-lluang to Lo[,, graphically tlescribetl by
nlarco Polo and still ~lsetl 11y ixre rarav:unr (luring the fe\v \vinttv mont11s \v11e11 it is
Before Ieavin~ the Tirim basin for regions further earl a brief arcoulrt ruay conveniently
he given here of the small but geogr:lphically very interesting
Torfiu deprcrsiou basin of Turf511 north oT the 1,011 tlepressio~~, to \vhich a good (leal of
0111. snrvey work was tle\~otctl in 1914-15. Quite tletacl~ecl from the
Tliri~n basil1 it shares so many of its rharacteristirs that it al>l)t>arslill;e a small scale
re~>ro~lrtctior~ of it. As Sheet No. 28 shows, it is e~~rlosed in tlw north by a rugged snowy
l'ortion of t,lle T'ien-shall, rising to peaks over 1~1.,000 feet in Ireiglit,, by an out,lyi~~g range of
the same in tl~e \vest, :tntl by tlt,terly barren hills and l la tea us of tlie Kuruli-t5gl1 111 tlre south
ant1 east. \Vitl~io these limits it contains n succession of well-tlelinetl zonw esactly correspo~iclin?
to the gravel glacis, t,lle belts of c~~lt,iv:ttio~l anil tlesert vrgetatiol~, and tile clune-covered
are:Is of the %rim basil).
The terminal sea-bet1 of the latter 11as also its pentla~rt ill the narro\s sall lake, for the
most part dry, " stretelling along the south-eastern etlgc of the basin.
Chnmcter no'i depth Of Into its lo~vest portio~l at the time of the summer floods gl~t,hers
Turfiu depressiou.
\vhatever drainage - from the mountains escapes evaporation. To the
east of it we have a. miniature etlition as it were of the Taltlanrak~~~ in tlre 1)lateau-lilie area
covered by high ridges ol dunes lino\vn as h-~~i,~-/(r//h, tile 'Saucl Ilills'. ':' Its positiori seems
to be determined by tlte direct,ion of the prevailing winds \v!iicll ;LS a rt,snlt of 'aspiration'
swee11 tlo\vn from the cooler region in the nortlt-\vest when the great Ilrat. of the spring and
stunmer causes the air to rise fro111 the lomt~r parts of the basin. A rery re~rlarliable feature
of the Turfin basin is the depth of its terminal depression. .\long the lake-b(,tl above
mentioned it deaceuds to a level which according to our 111ercuri:~l bitrorneter obser~ations lies
in places close 011 1,000 feet below the sea, while most of the pri11ril)nl oases lie also abont
or below sea-level. "
To tile very lrigl~ summer temperatures resulting from this low l,ositiol~ may be
attributed, at least partly, the peculiar conditio~~s affecting the \t:~fer
Irrigation In 'Pnrfin
supply of the basin and in conse~juet~re thc cnlti\~ation in its oas~~s. "
nR,CI ---- .
The streams \vhich carry down tl~e ~nelti~lg sno\vs of tl~c T'iet~-rllau in
the spring and suinlner lose most of their water on tlie descent over the bare glacis ol' gravel.
A portion of the water absorbed in the ground, it is true, comes to light again, like thc born-sn
of the Khot,an region, in ~lrarsllj- springs at the nort,ller~r foot of tl~e low and utterly arid hill
rauge stretching across tlie n~iildle of' the basin from east to \vest, alld dividing its cultivable
area into ttvo unequal belts. l6
Buf this water suppl~, too, monld permit of irrigatiou only over very limited ground
\\,ere it uot at the present time supplemented on a big scale by means
Kirhz ~rri~ation. - of sub-terraneons channels or 'fiir?;rs' \ehicli catch the subsoil water
beneath tlle gravel slopes and carry it., protected from evaporation, over
considerable distances to ground otherwise hopelessly sterile but under irrigation extremely
fertile. The use of Kirezes is unknown elsewllere throogllout Chinese Turl;istin, and in the
Tt~rfln district, too, it can apl~arently not be traced further hack tllan the 18th century. Yet
"' See Sheets Kos. 32. C, 1). 4; 35. A. 4.
" Ser Serindin, ii. pp. 649 Sq., 560 sqq.
'See Sheet No. 28. C, D. 3.
'"ee Sheets Kos. 2R. I). 3; 81. A. 3.
" 8ec Bhect No. 28. C, D. 3.
" These and other pbgsiogcaphieal nspects of the
Tnrfin onsen bare been lucidly discnssed in Profesaor
E. Hnntington's Pttlir of Alb, pp. 306 sqq.
The physienl fenter1.s c~l tllc 'l'urfi~~ bnsin as :I
whole will Ilc Tnllv twnted in the paper which I hope
to prepnre foi. l>i~blication along with 3 detnilccl mnp
based on the one-inch xi~rvcg uf tllr central nren of
thc territory.
'"ee Sheet No. 28: C. 2,3, D. 3, for springs near
Mnrtuk, Sinpim, 6u-bishi, i.nmjin; Sheet 31. A. 3
for those in the bed above Pichnn.