p. 68); but first he passed,
after the 170th day, a place called "Piled Stones," a name which
has never been lost to history, and which corresponds to Nien-po,
between Lan-thou Fu and Si-ning, as marked on modern maps.
In other words, he went by the only high-road there was in existence,
and ever since then has continued in existence (just traversed by Bruce),
leading to the Lob Nor region; whence again he branched off,
presumably to Turfan, or to Harashar; thence to Urumtsi, and possibly
Kuche, as they are respectively now called; but on the whole it is not
likely that he got beyond Harashar and Urumtsi. Even 800 years later,
when the Chinese had thoroughly explored all the west up to the Hindu
Kush, their expeditions had all to proceed from Lob Nor to Khoten, or
from Lob Nor (or near it) _via_ Harashar and Kuche along the
Tarim Valley: it was not for long after the discovery of these routes that
the later Chinese discovered the northerly Hami route, and the possibility
of avoiding Lob Nor altogether.
Pages:
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381