Indian Antiquary Vol 50

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 21

JAN., 1921]
THE DESERT CROSSING OF HSUAN-TSANG
times they are sure, as plenty of historical evidence shows, to have been considerably greater What other routes there are, leading from Hami and the eastern extremity of the T'ien-shan towards the border tracts of Kan-su and China proper, all cross the barren wastes of the Pei-shan " Gobi” for considerably greater distances. As my journey of September 1914 from Mao-mei to the Karlik-tagh showed (see "A third journey of exploration in Central Asia," Geographical Journal, 48, p. 200) they offer the same, if not greater, difficulties about water and grazing.
In view of these plain geographical facts it appears to me clear that the importance of the route leading from An-hsi to Hami cannot have undergone any material change during the periods while it was open for Chinese intercourse with Central Asia, and further that its track is not likely to have ever diverged far from the present one. The letter conclusion is all the more justified because, as can be seen from the map attached to 'Desert Cathay! and in fuller detail from sheets reproducing our surveys on the scale of 4 miles to 1 inch, the actual road, except for a small détour between the springs of Ta-ch'uan and Shsch'üan-tzů, due to necessities of water supply, leads in what practically is & straight line from An-hsi to the nearest outlying settlement of the Hami oasis.
An-bai, the ancient Kua-chou, where that episode of Hsuan-tsang's travels starts with which we are concerned here, need not detain us long. In my Desert Cathay 'I have already recorded what observations of its extant conditions I was able to gather during my stays in 1907 (cf. 'Desert Cathay,' 2, pp. 235 899.). The present An-hsi-chou, situated not far from the left bank of the Su-lo Ho, is, in spite of its grand name, "the City of the West-protecting [garrison),” scarcely more than a straggling street within a big enclosure of crumbling walls. It owes its importance, such as it is, solely to being the last haltingplace with local supplies on the road to Hami. To the south of the "town" there stretches between the river-course and the foot of the outermost barren hills of the Nan-shan a wide scrub-covered plain, where strips of poor cultivation are broken up by extensive stretches of Waste lands. Ruins of walled villages and towns abound in this desolate tract, attesting its former prosperity. Among them the largest and most central still bears the name of Kuachou-ch'êng, “the welled city of Kua-chou," and is known to local tradition as the site of the ancient chief place of the district. 5 Antiquerian reasons, which I have discussed in Serindia,' make it appear highly probable that this tradition is correct, and that we have
3 Such routes leading across the Pei-shan east of the Hami-An-hsiline are indicated in sheets XXI., *XXIII. of the Russian Asiatic Transfrontier Map, 40 vorsta to 1 inch, partly from the surveys of Russian explorers like Grum Grishmailo and Obrucheff, partly from "native information." A routc-line distinct from the above and leading from Hami to the great bend of the Su-lo Ho was followed in 1898 by Prof Futtorer, who has very carefully described it in “ Geographische skizze der Wüste Gobi," Ergänzungsheft No. 139, Pelermanns Mitteilungen, 1902. This memoir provides a very instructive account of the geology and physiography of the eastern Pei-shan ranges in general,
of the several route-lines shown by the above Russian map as crossing the Pei-shan west of the An-hai-Hami road only one can be considered as practicable and actually proved to exist. It is the one surveyed by Captain Roborovsky's expedition in 1893, which branches off from the Chinese high-road at K'u-shui, four marches from Hami, and leada due south to Tur-huang. Owing to difficulties about water, etc., it is but rarely followed nowadaye, Chinese travellers from the last-named oasis preferring to join the high-road at Hung-liu-y Ban the second station after leaving An-hsi. The existence of the other routes in view of information collected by Captain Roborovsky and Prof. Pelliot, appears very problematical,
Bee Sheets Nos. 73, 76, 77, 80, 81 of the Atlas prepared by the Survey of India for my 'Serindia. Advanco copies of this Atlaw were presented ourly in 1914 under the orders of Burveyor-General of India to the principal geographical institutions of Europe and America.
6 800 for the exact position of this ruined site and the topography of the Ar-hoi traot the ingot map on 1/M scale, in Map 1 of Desert Cathay.'