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

Chap. IV] NOTES ON SIIEET No. 1X 77
NOTES ON SHEET No. 18 (KEItIYA RIVER J4:SI))
With the exception of small areas, near Chinew, ahandonetl irl the third cent~~ry
Tongun-l~aate on the dyir~x Kcriya river A.IJ., see At~cietll Khol~itt, i. pp. 376 sqq.;
(A.4.) and at the ~~ortheru cntl of the 'Niya
Site' (13.4.), the snrveys shown in illis sheet
~'ieritr~li~~, i. pp. 215 stlcfi
l'hc surveyed orti ti on of the sheet nhosve
are confined to the route followed on my in sectio~~ ( A. 1 ) the northernmost traceable
Taklamakiii~ crossing of February, 1908. extenliioll of the dried-up Kcriya river delta.
Apart f'ro~n three i~ositio~~s of wl~ich the lati- The presetice lwrc of high 'Dawinn', running
tudes were observed astronomically, t.he planc- transversely to the direction of the dying
table travertie has bccn adjusted to the longi- river ( Camps 320,32 1 ), suxgests the postttdes
of 1Cochl;ar-iighil and Kuchi, deter- sibility of the latter having once formed
mined as explained in the Notes on Sheets terminal n~arshes on this ground. Further
No. 14 and 17.
south xt~ old bed of the river, overrun by
A fairly detailed account of the phjsical dunes and passing throl~gh E co~~fusing dead
features observed in crossing the Taklarnakan delta, \\.as f'ollo\\.ed with breaks to a point
from the Tgrim to the terminal delta of the (Can~p 327 )\vhere the recently formed new
Keriya River has heen given ill I)e*~rl tern~i~ral course of the river was erlcountered.
CntWcry, ii. pp. 386 sqq. The use of this 7'11~ bed secn near the shepherd-hut of
di5cult desert routc as an old 'robbers' track' l'o~rguz-baste ( A. 4 ), \vhich in 1901 still
and the 1)robablc shrinkage of t,l~e terminal carried water, had I~een abandoned some three
course of the Keriya river \vitl~in historical years later owirlg to a clla~rqe at the head
times have been discr~ssrd in $/~ri~rr/ir~, iii. of tlrc tlelta at l'oghan-hum (Sheet KO.
p1x 1240 sq. lzor the exploratior~ of the IS. D.4).
ruins at the northern extremity of the C;~rrectiun. A. 3. To tigure 300 above
'Niya Site', the ancient CWi~rg-chiich of the Camp 327 add r.
,Astrotrot~/iea//y ol/sr,rcecl /otittctl~r.
1906-08. Dead tamarisk-cone 3t miles N. of Camp 323 (A. 2)
Position 1 mile N. N. TV. of Camp 327 (A. 3) ...
Camp 327 (on new Keriya River bed; A. 3) ...
Tonguz-baste, Camp 330 ( near sl~ephercl's hut; A. 4)
...
...
...
...
39' 18' 19"
38' 42' 7"
38' 41' 43"
38' 23' 13"
NOTES ON SHEET No. 19 (NIYA)
The northern half of this sheet shows route-traverses shonrn in the northern porsilrrejs
made on all three expeditions, the tion of the sheet, a sound basis was forpresence
of two important ancient sites Irav- tunately available in the position of Niyaing
induced me to pay repeated visits to bszgr, fixed as a triangulation station in
tlr~s ground. The mountain area in the 1906 with the value of lat. 37O 3' 34",
south was st~rveyed in the autumn of 1006 long. 82' 45' 32". The caravan route
in conuect~on wit11 the triangulatio~~ then leading thence north-eastwards to Endere
carried along the uorthern main range of and Charchan could also be checked by the
the K'un-lun by Rai RBm Singh. position of Kalasti ( Camps 116 a, ~1x1~;
The numerous positions trigonometri- Sheet No. 22. C. 4.). In 191:3 this was
cally fixed in tlre course of this work have fixed on the plane-table by intersection with
furnished a safe base for the construction of a Reeves telescopic alidade from several prethis
portion of the sheet. Iu addition it was viously triangulated peaks above Charchan ;
possible to use for it in the S. It'. a series of it then proved to agree very closely with
high peaks on the main range ( A, B. 4 4 ) that laid don~n in Sheet No. 46 of the 1906which
Captain Deasy had fixed by triangula- 08 map. For several- points north of the
tion, and the positions of \vhich were plotted caravan route latitude observations were
on the plane-table at the time of sorreying available. The triangulation attempted in
(see Appendix A, Sheets ~OL, P). Besides October, 1906, from the rulns of the Nip
the latitntle observat~ons shown below, seve- Site failed to give a reliable result owing
ral more taken by Captain Dcasy and other to the narrow angle observed at~d the exexplorers
were also utilized.
cessive distances.
For the adjustment of the numerous Onring to the lateness of the season