XXXIX., P. 197.

OF THE CITY OF LOP.

Stein remarks, Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 343:  “Broad geographical facts left no doubt for any one acquainted with local conditions that Marco Polo’s Lop, ‘a large town at the edge of the Desert’ where ‘travellers repose before entering on the Desert’ en route for Sha chou and China proper, must have occupied the position of the present Charklik.  Nor could I see any reason for placing elsewhere the capital of that ’ancient kingdom of Na-fo-po, the same as the territory of Lou-lan,’ which Hiuan Tsang reached after ten marches to the north-east of Chue-mo or Charchan, and which was the pilgrim’s last stage before his return to Chinese soil.”

In his third journey (1913-1916), Stein left Charchan on New Year’s Eve, 1914, and arrived at Charkhlik on January 8, saying:  “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 the several parties for the explorations I had carefully planned during the next three months in the desert between Lop-nor and Tunhuang.”

“The name of LOB appears under the form Lo pou in the Yuan-shi, s.a. 1282 and 1286.  In 1286, it is mentioned as a postal station near those of K’ie-t’ai, Che-ch’an and Wo-tuan.  Wo-tuan is Khotan.  Che-ch’an, the name of which reappears in other paragraphs, is Charchan.  As to K’ie-t’ai, a postal station between those of Lob and Charchan, it seems probable that it is the Kaetaek of the Tarikh-i-Rashidi.” (PELLIOT.)

See in the Journ.  Asiatique, Jan.-Feb., 1916, pp. 117-119, Pelliot’s remarks on Lob, Navapa, etc.

XXXIX., pp. 196-7.

THE GREAT DESERT.

After reproducing the description of the Great Desert in Sir Henry Yule’s version, Stein adds, Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 518: 

“It did not need my journey to convince me that what Marco here tells us about the risks of the desert was but a faithful reflex of old folklore beliefs he must have heard on the spot.  Sir Henry Yule has shown long ago that the dread of being led astray by evil spirits haunted the imagination of all early travellers who crossed the desert wastes between China and the oases westwards.  Fa-hsien’s above-quoted passage clearly alludes to this belief, and so does Hiuan Tsang, as we have seen, where he points in graphic words the impressions left by his journey through the sandy desert between Niya and Charchan.