And In The Turkish Map Of
Central Asia, Printed In The Jahan Numa, As We Learn From Sir H.
Rawlinson,
The town of Pim is placed a little way north of Khotan.
Johnson found Khotan rife with stories of former
Cities overwhelmed by the
shifting sands of the Desert, and these sands appear to have been
advancing for ages; for far to the north-east of Pima, even in the 7th
century, were to be found the deserted and ruined cities of the ancient
kingdoms of Tuholo and Shemathona. "Where anciently were the seats of
flourishing cities and prosperous communities," says a Chinese author
speaking of this region, "is nothing now to be seen but a vast desert; all
has been buried in the sands, and the wild camel is hunted on those arid
plains."
Pima cannot have been very far from Kiria, visited by Johnson. This is a
town of 7000 houses, lying east of Ilchi, and about 69 miles distant from
it. The road for the most part lies through a highly cultivated and
irrigated country, flanked by the sandy desert at three or four miles to
the left. After passing eastward by Kiria it is said to make a great
elbow, turning north; and within this elbow lie the sands that have buried
cities and fertile country. Here Mr. Shaw supposes Pima lay (perhaps upon
the river of Kiria). At Pima itself, in A. D. 644, there was a story of
the destruction of a city lying further north, a judgment on the luxury
and impiety of the people and their king, who, shocked at the eccentric
aspect of a holy man, had caused him to be buried in sand up to the mouth.
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