Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 598

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Topography of the Province of Kánsuk.

OCT.

North of the Kilien Mts. are two rivers, each over 200 miles long, the Edsinei and Purunki, which lose themselves in desert lakes.

The Edsinei or Etzina river flows from the northern acclivities of the Kilien east of the Pass of Kiáyü, in many streams, the whole of which, north of the Wall, at last combine into two, the Edsinei

額濟納 and Tola 滔賴, and these finally into one, which falle into the Sobo and Sogok lakes, both called Kü-yen háiƒ on the Chinese maps. The upper streams flow through a fertile re- gion, and the cities of Kánchau, Suh and Káutái lie on them; but beyond the Wall, the towns are few. One of the roads to Barkoul runs north along the eastern bank to the lake, and there are several settlements of Mongols in the bottom lands.

The R. Purunki

runs westerly. It takes its rise in a marshy depression between the Wall and Ngánsí, where many small streams unite and flow west for about 70 miles, when their wa

ters are nearly doubled by the R. Sirgalzin 西爾喝爾遜河;

this has a course of about 80 miles from the southeast. The unit- ed stream, after running about 80 miles further, loses itself in lake Kara

A in long. 93° E. Between the R. Purunki and R. Tola, there are two short rivers running parallel with each other about fifty niles north, which lose themselves in two small lakes, the Alak-nor

阿拉克泊 and Altan-nor 達巴遜泊The valleys are

fertile and cultivated. Besides these streams in eastern Kánsuh, there are scores of small ones running among the valleys of the Teng- kiri Mts., but only two of them empty into lake Ayar.

Lake Ayar Blies in the extreme northwest, north

羅布泊

of the Tengkiri Mts. in lat. 45° N. and long. 86° E.; it is about fifty miles long and twenty broad. The R. Loklun emp-

羅克倫河 ties into it after a course of about 200 miles. The great Lake Lop is placed within the confines of Kansuh on Chinese maps; this sheet of water receives the Tarim river, the largest inland stream in the world. Lake Lop occupies an extensive depression in lat. 41° N., and long. 87° E., on the western side of the desert; it is surround- ed by marshes and small lakes, and lies in a region of wild desolation. Near Barkoul, there is a lake about a hundred miles in circuit, called Lake Barkoul; the region around it is fertile and well peopled. Two small lakes south of Lake Kara, called the Great and Little Serteng, complete the list of lakes in Kansuh. All of them are probably salt, and none of them are connected with the

ocean.