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

~ec, vi.] THE PRI-RHAN AND EASTERNMOST T'IEN-SHAN 65
It is only at the foot of these sections that cultivation to any appreciable extent is
found. The easternmost of thom ifi the Karlik-tigh ('The Snowy
~arlik-Liph and
Hiuri oasis. Mountir~s'), and the irrigation derived from itn snows accoclnts for th(?
thin sf.rin:: of oases along its ~outhern slopes. 8 ThoRe in the east about
T~sh-bulak and Jihotl1rr-tam arc small. But Himi or Kurnul (Sheat No. 34. C,D. 8) is
larger and clairl~s importance as its a::ricultural resources make it the northern hridge-tied,
as it mere, of the road fro111 A~l-hsi which, ever since the ancient route into the THrim basin
"ic~ Lou-Ian had to be abandoned, has served as the main artery of trade and traffic between
China and Central Asia. ' Here, as everywl~ere alon~ the southern slopes of the Eastern
Tien-shan, irrigation is chiefly supplied by the subsoil drainage from the ranqe gathering
in springs at the foot of the absolutely barren gravel
surplus water, which does not percolate into the soil, or which at the time of spring
and summer floods escapes evaporation on the surface, makes its way
,rerminnl httsin of
SI,OO,I-II~IT. down into a terminal basin, known as Shona-n6r, usuallp quite dry.
The Meea formations which surround this and some adjoininz smaller
basins occasionally reached by floods from the range further west, 6 distinctly recall a eharacteristic
feature of the ground near the ancient terminal basins of the Su-lo-ho and the tlriedup
Lop sea.
continuing further alonfi the southern slopes of the T'ien-shan wecome to the oases of
Lapchuk-Kara-dobe where cultivation of some extent is maintained hv
s ~Iopes of T,ien-sLno. subsoil drainaze from the snowy part of tl,e range ahove Barkul. Be-
. .
yond them the only route westwards practicable for caravans at the
present time hugs closely the foot of the mountains. Rut nowhere is cultivation possible
after leaving the slopes of the Barkul portion of the range until, after travelling some 150
miles, the vicinity of the Turfgo basin is reached at Chik-tam. The separate small region
by that basin has already received notice above.
Turning now to the opposite slopes of the Easkm TLien-shan we recopize there
conditions which clearly reflect the influence of a different climate. It
Cliruete of Dznngaria. is that of the wide plateaus of Dzungaria stretching. northward as far
as the Altai mountains and southernmost Siberia. The abundant
grazing grounds, which moisture drawn from the north provides in Dzungaria, have at all
times attracted there waves of nomadic nations, from the Huns to the Mongols. This moister
climate affects the whole length of the northern slopes of the main TLien-shan in spite of
intervening ranges and of thedrift-sand areas met with further west. In the extreme east of
the range, around Bai, we find indeed a glacis of gravel as bare as that on the slopes to
the south. But proceeding further west we come to plentiful grazing along the north of the
Karlik-Ggh, and from the far side of the Tor-k6I lake conifer forest clothes the higher
slopes as far as Barkul and beyond. 7
The perpetual snowbeds on this portion of the ranKe povide ample irrigation for the
wide grassy valley which stretches down to the town of Barkul and its
T'isn-shan slopes W.
or narku~. lake, and only scarcity of mainly due to political vicissi-
tudes, stands in the way of far more extensive cultivation. West of
Barkul the crest of the range sinks below the level of perpetual snow, and the amount of
water descending its slopes is correspondingly much reduced. Yet sprinqs and small patchen
of cultivation are to be found all along them, until near Mu-li-ho the route takes us to the
foot of that high snomy portion of the range which divides the Turfirn basin from the fertile
tracts about Guchen.
Cultivation in the vicinity of this large town and in that of the ruined site of Pei-Ping,
Cultivation near
Gnclben.
' Yee Sheets Nos. 34 A 2. 3; 97. A. 2,3.
* Cf. Serindin, iii. pp. 1147 899.
6 See Bheets Nos. 31, D. 3; 34. A. 3.
* Bee Bheet Nu. 87. B. C. 2
the ancient capital of the territory, is not restricted to the amp])
watered alluvial fans, but is also carried on without ~rrigation over ex
tensive ground; immediakly,adjacent-to the belt of forest on the
7 See Sheet No. 34. A. B. 1, C, D. 2.
* Bee Sheet No. 34. B. C. 1.
Bee Sheet. Xo. 31. A. 1; 28. 0. D. 1.