Show si J t I t I I I I I i j I I Type of Cart Used In Central Asiatic Lands Landa 1 Prepared b by the National Nation Oeo Society So- So clety Washington D. D C C. Dy By degrees the veIl veIl-In this case ense many feet ot of sand sand-Is beIng drawn sway from the mysterious region of Central AsIa whence some authorities assert came the ancestors of the peoples peo- peo pIes ples of all continents As the sand Is dug or blown from ruined cities and temples history Is being pushed farther farther far far- ther and farther back and there Is being beIng be- be Ing disclosed evIdences of the hIgh degree deree de- de gree ree ot of civilization and culture that existed In this mountain and desert desert- girt region thousands of years ago Perhaps the most fascinating and ond the most m mysterious of these central Asian regions Is the hop Iop or Basin north of TIbet which constitutes constitutes the heart ot of eastern or Chinese Turkestan The entire central portion ot of the basin Is desert but around Its rim between It and the mountaIns that almost encircle It Is a string of oases that have figured prominently In his his- tory In these oases today are towns whose names at least are familiar r Khotan and ond many smaller ones to the north less known but locally Important It Is only wIthin the last halt half century century cen- cen tury that the West has become passably pass laSS laSSI I ably well acquainted with the Lop basin but medIe al Europe had Mun- Mun lIke tales of the regIon In the celebrated letters of Prester r John a amore amore more or less m mythical character who was represented to be a powerful ChrIstian emperor livIng In central AsIa In one of the letters It Is stated that Among other things tIling'S which are very wonderful In our country Is asea n a sea of sand without water For then the sand mo- mo moves mos s and swells i In waves l in the they manner ot of all seas and Is never ne still stIl This sea cannot be crossed either by boat or b by any other method and of what sort the land may be be beyond ond It no one can know And although water Is absent entirely nevertheless there are found on the shore on our side sideman man many kinds of fish more delicIous and tasting sweet than are ever eyer seen nay where else Other Otiler wonders are related related re- re of the some same region For my In stance Into the Sandy sea Itself flows three days ot of the week a river river- of stones without water impassable while Its flo flow continues Beyond It lies another liver whose sands are mere precious stones or sometimes this Riser ot of Gems flows through the Sandy sea and Is Indeed the river rh-er flowing days das and resting the seventh which keeps the ten tribes of the Children ot of Israel from crossing Into the land ot of Prester John And In one part of the desert where the sea lies Is a people wIth round feet like horses horses' hoofs and In another part Is the land of itself a land where none but women dwell and they are very stark and cruel and no noman noman man dare bide more than an hour Old Tales Not Far From Truth Strange as these stories sound they are only slIght perversions ot of tile the truth During a recent visit to the Lox Lop basin facts were observed which may perhaps explaIn them For Instance when first one sei sees s women ot of high class their diminutive din feet are ure strangely sugg suggestive of ot the the hoofs of animals As to the fable of the laud ot of herd ur Is nothing nothing- now to give rise lIse to It dIrect directly I Marco arco Polo relates relater how cr that iii hi his day In the region ot of Hami nut not man many hun dred miles frown Nor Lop none but n found und In the villages caravans ns arrived The men de tI parted purt d in order In-order order that at the travelers t might l be more comfortable and might be the more really rendy to pay Imy for enter enter- ent Even en today the people ot of ilami possess customs which seem t to he a reminiscence ot of the ancient habit The Lop LOl basin in the very Cr center of t tAsia Asia la is a great depressIOn 1000 1 mlle miles long from rota east eust to west and wide Around Around it It lIesa lIes a ring of lofty plateaus from to oOOO high At their base buse Is n a rm ring o of f piedmont pied pied- mont gravel ru el almost destitute of lI and ancl loping gently Inward like a hue beach front from 5 tu to 40 10 miles wide Thin Then comes another zone of tiou where alone there are plants and ar tJ tJan an opportunity for human inhabitants niJ other than the few tew nomads ot of the plateaus Finally within the zone of r rc c vegetation lies U a vast ast de desert ert area abo about t miles mUes long antI and 50 50 wide Its western three quarters consist of to In veritable sea of sand the Takla desert yellow or gray on tile the pink In the Inner portIons Row now after r row v of almo almost J Impassable able saml dunes lu has s been heen piled up Ul b. b by wind to heights of fun frill fino feet feet In places T The P smallest dunes often Uen move mo forward hundreds ot of fe feet t In n a year In the direction dl di- r of the prevailing winds wInd the largest scarcely move at all The sand Is most beautIful with Its graceful grace grace- ful sweep ot of wavy dunes and rIpples but the natives hate and fear It It has proved the grave grac ot of many a native native na- na tive gone Ione mad wIth thirst In the vain search for the gold supposed to ho hIdden In sand burled ruins A few rivers flow Into the desert ot of Takla Most of them soon wither to nothIng All are very variable varl- varl I able and ond some such as the Vash SherI Sherl flow In raging Impassable torrents torrents tor- tor I rents durIng sunny weather In summer summer sum sum- mer but dry up when cloudy days among prevent the melting meltIng melt melt- Ing or of snow The dry beds ot of these streams form torm veritable rivers ot of stones In certain cases cae might almost say with the old chronicler that there are streams whose sands are mere precious stones When the and Kenya rivers are low crowds of natives go out from the oases to dig In the gravel gravelot ot of the river I bed for jade one ona of the most highly prIzed of Chinese precious stones Gold also Is found In the upper up- up per parts ot of the beds ot of the Kenya and nd other rIvers Sea of Salt Is a Marsh East ot of the ea of Sand there lies liesa a Sea of Salt the bed ot of the ancient Lake ot of Lop Today the lake Is s merely a marsh fed by the river and filled with huge reeds 12 to 15 feet teet high Near the mouth ot of the river where alone the water Is fresh enough to support life lite the Lop Lop- have planted their villages Ot of f Formerly a according t to th own wn account the they lived lI wholly on on fish I and birds caught In the open lanes Innes and I pools ot of the swamp where the fishermen fishermen fisher fisher- men still sUll paddle their canoes of hollowed hol hollowed hol- hol lowed poplar They cannot go far t to the east for tor there the swamp rows grows more and more saline until finally it merges Into t great plain of salt the bed hed ot of the expanded lake of former times Time The old bed ot of Lop Lop- Nor Lop or Is one ot of the most absolute deserts in the world the hardy natives never ne venture Into It t. t For five days das a caravan an ot of Western explorers recently st stumbled wearily carny over n a sea of rock salt alt broken Into huge polygons ons 10 or 12 feet In n diameter which had buckled up around the edges to a height of from tromon on one to three feet teet It was like the choppiest sort of sea frozen solid When what appeared to be sort soft places were selected In whIch to pitch tents the Iron tent pegs tent bent double For ForGO ForGO GO miles north and south and for nearly nearly near near- ly east east and west there ther Is not a sIgn ot of any living thing It is relatively but a little while since Lop Nor r was much larger than now and expanded to such a sIze that most It if not aU all ot of the old bed was covered by water as Is proved pro by the location ot of ancient roads and beaches tit At the time ot of ChrIst the lake appears ap- ap pears gears to have been of lar c dimensIons Then rhea It diminished hed In size and nb about ut ute f lye e centurIes later was probably as Is I Later nt r mall or smaller than It now J. J it It expanded und and with varyIng varyIng- remained ely comparatively large large untIl about 1000 A A. D D. Now ow It has l an the he people more dIminished and who formerly were supported b by It have ha largely lied died off olf A century or fish two or two two ago ngo they used to carry three hundred mlles miles eastward to the Nestorian Christians Chris Chris- where e cIties lived lIvel In the lays days Marco 1 Polo and Now v the desert has be become come so rigorous arid and the im ime e SO so decreased In number that the traffic cn The Thc of the has been given 1 up letters or of rester John wa was almost right when tie he said that fish were pro pro- procured cured from the Sea of Sand They certainly came cume from the border between between be- be tween It and the Sea ot of Suit Salt In the last few tew yea years finds have hn been made matIe among the ruins ot of tt temples und and cities In the edge ot of the dt deserts ot of Chinese Turk Turkestan ton over which sand has drifted Caves CU too have been n found In cliffs rimming t the e deserts In which are arc elaborately decorated shrines The carved NI and ld e evidence so fur far uncovered indicates that time the people who lived lI In the cotta coun had lInd Indo Indo- try before the ern European lan languages n es and so closely Europeans The rev re- with connected onne ted was ot of these thee early hut but litter luter they were vere conquered conquered con con- by Moslems r and Mohammedan Ism Is now dominant The finds even en that It may have been cr cpm mn to indicate from this region relon with Its ancient that the ancestors of Ira ing civilization I tile the These came |