he Tarim sought for an outlet to the south,
where the country was somewhat lower. The old bed was dried up by
degrees and the water in the lake evaporated. The sheet of water
remained, indeed, for a long time, but it shrank up from year to year.
At last there was not a drop of water left, and the whole country dried
up. The poplar woods perished, and the reeds withered and were blown
away by the wind. The men left their huts and moved down the new water
channel to settle at the new lake, where they erected new huts. The
Tarim and Lop-nor had swung like a pendulum to the south, and men,
animals, and plants were obliged to follow. The same thing then occurred
in the south. The new river and lake were silted up and the water
returned northwards. Thus the water swung repeatedly from north to
south, but of course many hundreds of years elapsed between the
vibrations.

At the present day the lake lies in the southern part of the desert; it
is almost entirely overgrown with reeds, and the poplar woods grow only
by the river. The few natives are partly herdsmen, partly fishermen;
they are of Turkish race and profess the religion of Islam; they are
kind-hearted and peaceable, and show great hospitality to strangers.
Their huts are constructed of bundles of reeds bound together; the
ground within is covered with reed mats, and the roof consists of boughs
covered with reeds. The men spend a large part of their time in canoes,
which are hollowed poplar trunks, and are therefore long, narrow, and
round at the bottom. The oars have broad blades and drive the canoes at
a rapid pace. Narrow passages are kept open through the reeds, and along
these the canoes wind like eels. The men are very skilful in catching
fish, and in spring they live also on eggs, which they collect from the
nests of the wild geese among the reeds. The reeds grow so thickly that
when they have been broken here and there by a storm one can walk on
them with six feet of water beneath.

Tigers were formerly common on the banks of Lop-nor, and the natives
used to hunt them in a singular manner. When a tiger had done mischief
among the cattle, the men would all assemble from the huts in the
neighbourhood at the thickets on the bank of the river where they knew
that the tiger was in hiding. They close up round him from the land
side, leaving the river-bank open. Their only weapons are poles and
sticks, so they set fire to the copse in order to make the beast leave
hi