On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c6.s6: Thousand Springs
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c6.s6
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Thousand Springs
v1.c6.s6.1
Returning to the text of our Records we read that a journey of above 400 *li* westward from "Su-she city" brought the pilgrim to the "Thousand Springs". The district with this name was above 200 *li* square; it had Snowy mountains on its south side and level land on the other sides; it had a rich mouldy soil and trees everywhere; in the latter part of spring the place was an embroidery of flowers. There were a thousand springs and ponds and hence the name of the district; the Khan of the Turks came here every year to escape the summer heat. The place contained flocks of tame deer many of which wore bells and rings; the deer were cherished by the Khan who forbade the slaughter of any of them under the penalty of capital punishment, and so the deer lived their natural lives.
v1.c6.s6.2
From the Life we learn that the local native name of this charming district, here called Ch'ien-Ch'uan (千泉), was Ping-yü (屏聿). This evidently represents Bing-ghyul which is the Turkic equivalent for Ch'ien-ch'uan or "Thousand Springs". There is little mention of the district bearing this name in Chinese literature. We find it stated in the history of the Sui dynasty that in the year A. D. 619 the She-hu khan of the West Turks removed his Court to the Thousand Springs, described as being to the north of the Shih (石), that is, Tashkend country.¹ Moreover in the XIIth chuan of these Records we are told that the Ts'ung-Ling range 'extended on the north to the Hot sea (the Issik-kül) and Thousand Springs'.
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¹ See T'ung-chien-kang-mu ch. 38 (sui Kung Ti 2d. year).
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Mr Schuyler finds the district here named Thousand Springs in the country to the north of the Alexandrofsky range and between Auliéata and Ak-su. Of his journey from the former of these two places to the latter he writes—"All along my right was the beautiful Alexandrofsky range, with many of its summits then white with snow. At almost every step I crossed rivulets trickling down from the hills, showing well the truth of the old name, 'the thousand sources'."² With this we may compare Dr Bretschneider's opinion—"Vivien de St. Martin, in his geographical notes appended to Stan. Julien's translation of Hüan Thsang's narrative identifies Ts'ients'üan with a place Ming bulak, south of Lake Karakul, thus carrying the traveller far north-west, and then locates his Ta-lo-sz between the aforesaid lake and the Jaxartes. But this view is untenable. Ming bulak meaning 'Thousand Springs' in Mongol and other languages of the East, is a quite frequent name for places in Mongolia and Central Asia. It seems to me that the Thousand Springs of the Chinese traveller, bordered on the south by snowy mountains, whilst on the other sides all was level land, must be rather looked for somewhere on the northern slope of the high mountain stretching from Lake Issik-kül, westward, and marked on Russian maps as *Alexander's Chain*.¹
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² Turkistan Vol. II. p. 123.
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¹ Med. Res. Vol. I. p. 228 note.