Marco Polo in Central Asia: 34: The City & Desert of Lop [1]

Lop is a large city at the entrance of the great desert bearing its name, and lying between the north and northeast. It belongs to the Khan.  The people adore Mohammed.  Those persons who wish to pass this tract, rest in the city a week to refresh themselves and their cattle; then having taken a month's provisions and the provender (fodder for their cattle) they enter upon the desert, which is so extensive and if a person were to travel through its whole length, it would employ a year; and even at its smallest breadth a month is requisite.  It consists altogether of mountains and valleys of sand, and nothing is got to eat.  After travelling a day and a night you find sweet water sufficient for fifty to a hundred men and their animals. For a larger body it may be insufficient. Thus water is seen daily, altogether in about twenty eight places, and except in three or four spots it is good.  No beasts or birds, because they could not find food.  There is a great wonder which I must now tell you.  When a party rides by night, and anyone of the group lags behind, or straggles from his companions, through sleep or any other course, when he seeks to return to his companions, he hears spirits speak to him in such a manner, that they seem to be his comrades, and they frequently call him by name, and thus lead him out of his way, so that he never regains his course or his companions, and many persons are thus lost and perished.  Even by day you hear the voices of spirits, and even the playing of tambours and many other instruments.  They find it necessary before going to rest at night, to fix an advance signal pointing out the next course after they woke up from the sleep.  Likewise they attach a bell to each of the animals, so as to prevent them from straggling.  In this manner, amid much danger and fear, this desert is crossed.  Now we must tell you of the countries that lie on the other side.





Notes:-
1. Lop: The city of Lop Nur, located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Lop Nur was an important stopover on the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected China with Central Asia, the Middle East and the Europe. 
Lop Nur means Lop lake. Lop is a toponym of unknown origin. It is now a largely dried-up salt lake 

2. From the narrative it is assumed that only shepherds and shepherd- turned-merchants used this tract.

3. The spirits talking: The shepherds move in groups based on their ethnicity, and the strayed individual of a group hears the music and talking of other groups.

End of the Section 

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