Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/9

 journey appeared in print. So interesting and suggestive a commentary from the pen of one of the first geographers of the day could not fail to attract the attention of the public. I therefore lost no time in communicating with the Baron through the kind instrumentality of Colonel Yule, and received from him a prompt reply to my request for further particulars, together with two map-tracings illustrating his views. The following extracts are from Baron Richthofen's letter to Colonel Yule. "I send you two tracings; one of them is a true copy of the Chinese map, the other is made from a sketch which I constructed to-day, and on which I tried to put down the Chinese topography together with that of Prejevalsky. It appears evident—1, that Prejevalsky travelled by the ancient road to a point south of the true Lop-noor; 2, that long before he reached this point he found the river courses quite different from what they had been formerly; and, 3, that following one of the new rivers which flows due south by a new road, he reached the two sweet-water lakes, one of which answers to the ancient Khas-omo. I use the word 'new' merely by way of comparison with the state of