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JULY, 1917]
A THIRD JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
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approaching the jungle belt of Vash-shahri, an outlying little colony of Lop, we found the route guarded by a large party of armed Muhammadans, who at first mistook us for a fresh batch of "revolutionaries" (many of the Chinese had taken to masquerading in queer European olothos). But Roze Bog, the headman of Vash-shahri and an old acquaintance, soon recognized me. From him I learned the queer story how the little band of "gamblers" from Charchan had captured the hapless Amban, all the local Muhammadans first deserting him, and then looking on with placid indifference when some days later their magistrate was cruelly put to death by the bandits, after having been forced to disclose the place where his official moneys were hidden. The leader of the band had set himself up as Amban ad interim, and was duly obeyed by the local chiefs, Roze Beg himself included. Fortunately his régime proved shortlived, and there was no need of my introduction to him either; for within a week a small detachment of Tungan Government troops had arrived from faraway Kara-shahr in the north, under & capable young officer. Stealthily introduced at night into the oasis by the same adaptable Begs, they found little difficulty in surprising the " revolutionaries," most of whom were killed in their sleep, and the rest captured. So tranquillity once more ruled at Charkhlik, and Roze Beg was now engaged in laying an ambush for more "gamblers” expected to come from Charchan, in ignorance of the turn their affairs had taken. In this loyal task he duly succeeded within a day of my passage.
On January 8 I arrived at Charkhlik. It was from this modest little oasis, the only settlement of any importance in the Lop region, representing Marco Polo's “ City of Lop," that I had to raise the whole of the supplies, labour, and extra camels needed by our several parties for the explorations I had carefully planned during the next three months in the desert between Lop-nor and Tun-huang. I knew well the difficulties which would attend this task even under ordinary conditions. But now I found them greatly increased by the preceding local upheaval and all its consequences. The irruption of the “revolutionaries" and its subsequent repression by the Tungan troops, who had "by mistake” killed even the few Chinese subordinates of the legitimate Amban, had left no Chinese civil authority whatever, and in its absence no effective help could be hoped for from the easy-going Lopliks and their indolent Begg. The trouble about adequate supplies and transport became all the more serious as the passage of relatively large bodies of Tungan troops sent to operate against the numerous "revolutionary" elements which were known to lurk among the Chinese garrisons of Keriya and Khotan, threatened completely to exhaust the slender resources of Charkhlik.
The six days' stay I was obliged to make at Charkhlik in order to secure at least a portion of my requirements through the help of a few old Lop friends, was thus an anxious time for me. I greatly chafed at the delay, little realizing at the time what a boon in disguise the revolutionary disturbance had been for me. Fortunately I was able to use my stay also for some profitable archæological labour. While executions of captured rebels, requisitions for the troops marching on towards Keriya, etc., kept the little oasis in unwonted animation, I managed to search two small sites near by on the river bui beyond the southern edge of cultivation, which previously had escaped me. From ruined Buddhist shrines there I recovered remains of Sanskrit manuscripts on birch-bark, palm-leaf, and silk, fragmentary but of special interest as suggesting import from India by the direct route which still leads from Charkhlik across the Tibetan plateaus to the south.
On the last day of my stay I had the great satisfaction of seeing R. B. Lal Singh safely rejoin me after fully four months of separation. After leaving me in September in the mountains of the Muztagh-ata range he had pushed on and started triangulation of the main
