od of a road with a large
traffic between Korla and an unknown place to the south-east, probably on
the shores of the Chinese Lob-nor. Prjevalsky, who passed between the
Lower Tarim and the Koncheh Daria, could not see a lake or the remains of
a lake to the east of this river. The Koncheh Daria expands into a marshy
basin, the Malta Kul, from which it divides into two branches, the
Kuntiekkich Tarim (East River) and the Ilek (river) to the E.S.E. Dr. Sven
Hedin, after following the course of the Ilek for three days (4th April,
1896) found a large sheet of water in the valley at the very place marked
by the Chinese Topographers and Richthofen for the Lob-nor. This mass of
water is divided up by the natives into Avullu Kul, Kara Kul, Tayek Kul,
and Arka Kul, which are actually almost filled up with reeds. Dr. Sven
Hedin afterwards visited the Lob-nor of Prjevalsky, and reached its
western extremity, the Kara-buran (black storm) on the 17th April. In
1885, Prjevalsky had found the Lob-nor an immense lake; four years later
Prince Henri d'Orleans saw it greatly reduced in size, and Dr. Sven Hedin
discovered but pools of water. In the meantime, since 1885, the northern
(Chinese) Lob-nor has gradually filled up, so the lake is somewhat
vagrant. Dr. Sven Hedin says that from his observations he can assert that
Prjevalsky's lake is of recent formation.

So Marco Polo's Lob-nor should be the northern or Chinese lake.

Another proof of this given by Dr. Sven Hedin is that the Chinese give the
name of Lob to the region between Arghan and Tikkenlik, unknown in the
country of the southern lake. The existence of two lakes shows what a
quantity of water from the Thian Shan, the Eastern Pamir, and Northern
Tibet flows into the basin of the Tarim. The Russian Lieutenant K. P.
Kozlov has tried since to prove that the Chinese Lob-nor is the Kara-
Koshun (Black district), which is a second lake formed by the Tarim, which
discharges into and issues from the lake Kara-buran. Kozlov's arguments
are published in the _Isvestia_ of the Russian Geographical Society, and
in a separate pamphlet. _The Geog. Jour._ (June, 1898, pp. 652-658)
contains _The Lob-nor Controversy_, a full statement of the case,
summarising Kozlov's pamphlet. Among the documents relating to the
controversy, Kozlov "quotes passages from the Chinese work _Si-yui-shui-
dao-tsi_, published in 1823, relative to the region, and gives a reduced
copy of the Chinese Map published by