Semipalatinsk,
Kulja, Korla, Lob-Nor, Charkalyk, Altyn Tagh, Almost A Straight Line To
Tengri Nor, Then To Batang, Ta Tsien Lu, Ning-Yuan, Yun-Nan-Fu, Mong-Tsu,
And Tung-King.
Bonvalot (28th October, 1889) describes Lob in this manner:
"The village
of Lob is situated at some distance from [the Charchan daria]; its
inhabitants come to see us; they are miserable, hungry, etiques; they
offer us for sale smoked fish, duck taken with lacet. Some small
presents soon make friends of them. They apprize us that news has spread
that Pievtsov, the Russian traveller, will soon arrive" (l.c. p. 75). From
Charkalyk, Prince Henri d'Orleans and Father Dedeken visited Lob-nor (l.c.
p. 77 et seq.), but it was almost dry; the water had receded since
Prjevalsky's visit, thirteen years before. The Prince says the Lob-nor he
saw was not Prjevalsky's, nor was the latter's lake the mass of water on
Chinese maps; an old sorceress gave confirmation of the fact to the
travellers. According to a tradition known from one generation to another,
there was at this place a large inland sea without reeds, and the elders
had seen in their youth large ponds; they say that the earth impregnated
with saltpetre absorbs the water. The Prince says, according to tradition,
Lob is a local name meaning "wild animals," and it was given to the
country at the time it was crossed by Kalmuk caravans; they added to the
name Lob the Mongol word Nor (Great Lake). The travellers (p. 109)
note that in fact the name Lob-nor does not apply to a Lake, but to the
whole marshy part of the country watered by the Tarim, from the village of
Lob to end of the river.
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