Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/43

24 great extent of the history of Central Asia, I will take these authorities first.

Marco Polo mentions a city called Lob or Lop, five days' journey from Charchan, at the entrance of the Great Desert, the inhabitants of the city being Mohammedans. Such persons as purpose to cross the Desert, take a week's rest in the town to refresh themselves and their cattle, and then they make ready for the journey, taking with them a month's supply for man and beast. On quitting the city they enter the desert.

Colonel Yule, in his copious notes, endeavoured to fix the longitude of Lop, placing it three degrees more to the westward than it is put in our maps, putting it, in fact, in 88° E. of Greenwich. Colonel Prejevalsky has now scientifically fixed its position. Regarding the ancient cities buried in the sand, which have been said to exist in these regions, we now have Colonel Prejevalsky's testimony, but it is unfortunate that he was unable to make excavations or any extended explorations, or he might have enabled us to award the exact value to a curious description of the ruins of one city given by a Kirghiz traveller, and contained in the report of the Yarkand Mission. He says (see page 46):—

"They are on the desert to the east of the Katak ruins, and three days' journey from Lob, in a south-west direction along the course of the Khoten river. The walls are seen rising above the reeds in which the city is concealed. I have