lbow on the road from Kiria to Charchan (supra, p. 192) necessitates our
still further abridging the longitude between Khotan and Lop. (See Shaw's
remarks in _Proc. R. G. S._ XVI. 243.)

[This desert was known in China of old by the name of _Lew-sha_, i.e.
"Quicksand," or literally, "Flowing sands." (_Palladius, Jour. N. China B.
R. As. Soc._ N.S. X. 1875, p. 4.)

A most interesting problem is connected with the situation of Lob-nor
which led to some controversy between Baron von Richthofen and Prjevalsky.
The latter placed the lake one degree more to the south than the Chinese
did, and found that its water was sweet. Richthofen agreed with the
Chinese Topographers and wrote in a letter to Sir Henry 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 Prjevalsky. It appears
evident--(1) That Prjevalsky 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 things in Kien-long's time, when the map was made. It
appears that the Chinese map shows the Khas Lake too far north to cover
the Kara-Koshun. The bifurcation of the roads south of the lake nearly
resembles that which is marked by Prjevalsky." (Preface of E. D. Morgan's
transl. of _From Kulja across the Tian Shan to Lob-nor_, by Colonel N.
Prjevalsky, London, 1879, p. iv.) In this same volume Baron von
Richthofen's remarks are given (pp. 135-159, with a map, p. 144), showing
comparison between Chinese and Prjevalsky's Geography from tracings by
Baron von Richthofen and (pp. 160-165) a translation of Prjevalsky's
replies to the Baron's criticisms.

Now the Swedish traveller, Dr. Sven Hedin, claims to have settled this
knotty point. Going from Korla, south-west of Kara-shahr, by a road at the
foot of the Kurugh-tagh and between these mountains and the Koncheh Daria,
he discovered the ruins of two fortresses, and a series of milestones
(potais). These tall pyramids of clay and wood, indicating distances in
_lis_ show the existence at an ancient peri