The wandering lake : into the heart of Asia /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Hedin, Sven Anders, 1865-1952.
Uniform title:	Vandrande sjön. English
Imprint:	London ; New York : Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2009.
Description:	xiv, 293 p. : ill., maps ; 20 cm.
Language:	English
Subject:	Hedin, Sven Anders, -- 1865-1952 -- Travel -- China -- Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu. Hedin, Sven Anders, -- 1865-1952. Travel. Lop Nur (China) Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu (China) -- Description and travel. China -- Lop Nur. China -- Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8009987

Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:	Hare, John.
ISBN:	9781848850224 (pbk.) 1848850220 (pbk.)
Notes:	"First published in English in 1940 by George Routledge & Sons Ltd."--T.p. verso Includes bibliographical references and index. Translated from the Swedish: Den vandrande sjön.
Summary:	The lake of Lop Nur, the "Heart of the heart of Asia," is one of the world's strangest phenomena. Situated in the wild Chinese province of Xinjiang, Lop Nur - "The wandering lake"- has for millennia been in a perpetual state of flux, drifting north to south, often tens of kilometres in as many years. It was once the lifeblood of the great Silk Road kingdom of Loulan, which flourished in this otherwise barren region 2,000 years ago and its peculiar movements confused even Ptolemy, who marked the lake twice on his map of Asia. Sven Hedin became captivated by the Lop Nur's peripatetic movements and for forty years his destiny was inextricably linked with that of this mysterious lake and the region surrounding it. His last journey to Lop Nur was in 1934. Travelling the length of the Konche-daria and Kum-daria rivers by canoe, Hedin embarked on his last Central Asian expedition and proved what he had always suspected - that Lop Nur did indeed shift position - and why. When he camped on its vast banks at night, Lop Nur was deep and full. Today, this once great lake - a a mighty reservoir in the desert - is nothing but windblown sand and salty marsh. The third in Sven Hedin's Central Asia trilogy, The Wandering Lake is a gripping story of adventure and discovery but it is also a rare account of a now-vanished world; a masterpiece by one of history's last great explorers.

Table of Contents:

Foreword
The Start for Lop-nor
Our First Day on the River
The Whole Expedition at Sai-Cheke
The Last Day on the Konche-daria
The First Days on the Kum-daria
Towards the Mysterious Desert
To an Unknown Princess's Grave
In the Mazes of the Delta
The Journey to Lop-nor
Our Last Days by Lop-nor and Lou-lan
Back to the Base Camp
Wild Life on the Kum-daria
Bergman's Desert Journey
Chen's Work on the Kum-daria
To Tun-hwang and the Grottoes of the Thousand Buddhas
To the Mountain Maze of the Pei-shan
The Sand Dunes of the Ghashun-gobi
Through the Wild Camels' Homeland
To the End of the Road
The Wandering Lake
The Last Pulsebeat

The wandering lake : into the heart of Asia /

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