Note 1 — Chapter II · ON TO SHEN-SHEN AND THENCE TO KHOTEN

(1) An account is given of the kingdom of Shen-shen in the 96th of the Books of the first Han dynasty, down to its becoming a dependency of China, about B.C. 80. The greater portion of that is now accessible to the English reader in a translation by Mr. Wylie in the “Journal of the Anthropological Institute,” August, 1880. Mr. Wylie says:—“Although we may not be able to identify Shen-shen with certainty, yet we have sufficient indications to give an appropriate idea of its position, as being south of and not far from lake Lob.” He then goes into an exhibition of those indications, which I need not transcribe. It is sufficient for us to know that the capital city was not far from Lob or Lop Nor, into which in lon. 38° E. the Tarim flows. Fâ-Hien estimated its distance to be 1500 le from T’un-hwang. He and his companions must have gone more than twenty-five miles a day to accomplish the journey in seventeen days.