File:Ruins of desert Cathay - personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China (1912) (14783156275).jpg

Identifier: ruinsofdesertcat01stei (find matches)
Title: Ruins of desert Cathay : personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Stein, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943 Archaeological Survey of India
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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ches covered with golden reeds, which, moved bya pleasant breeze, rose and fell like fields of ripe corn.Here and there an Eleagnus, or specially big wild poplar,still retained its green foliage, while the purple tufts of theomnipresent tamarisk bushes completed this revel of colours. The picturesque parties of pilgrims returning from thelonely shrine of Imam Jafar Sadik added a touch of humaninterest to the sylvan scenery (Fig. 82). Most of themwere cheerful Khotanliks, whom it was pleasant to talk toabout people and places I knew near their homes, or toentrust with greetings for friends in the distant oasis.There was bracing freshness in the air as on a clearautumn day in Europe, and with the minimum thermometershowing 17 to 20 degrees Fahr. in the morning all troublefrom heat and glare was forgotten. Everything in natureseemed to tell that this was the season of the hunter.With long marches to be accomplished each day, and alarge convoy of men and animals-to look after, I could not
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cH.xxii IMAM JATAR SADIKS SHRINE 267 think of going into the forest after the game which seemedplentiful. But my little terrier was ever on the alert,chasing hares, foxes, and deer with the same unremittingenergy. * Kardash Begs activity seemed to puzzle greatlythe young shepherd dog whom the Surveyor had broughtdown from the Karanghu-tagh mountains as a travellingcompanion of his own. Though the route to Imam Jafar Sadiks shrine hadnot varied since I last followed it, there were conspicuouschanges in the dying course of the Niya River. Alreadyon the first march we suddenly came upon the river, andhad to cross it at a point near Yoghan-toghrak, where ourformer survey showed it several miles away to the east.On enquiry I learned that during the summer floods of1904 the stream had greatly altered its course. Fromthe first I suspected that this deflection westwards wouldcarry the river back into the clearly marked old bed whichin 1901 we found completely dry. This assumption provedtrue b

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