"The Invisible City" by Clark Ashton Smith

Lob-nor: now known as Lop Nor, a salt lake in the eastern edge of the Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China

Tarim River: the principal river of the Tarim Basin

Khotan: Today known as Hotan, it is a major oasis town in the Tarmin Basin in southwestern Xinjiang

Turkestan: a region in Xinjiang today knows as Transoxiana. To the Persians this region was known as Turan. Eastern Turkestan specifically fell under Chinese dominion in the 5th century AD, but went back and forth between various rulers, the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Mongols, and eventually back to China.

Tchertchen: A river today referred to as the Qiemo or Qarqan River, it runs through the Tarim Basin and feeds the marshes of Lob-nor

The author appears to have intimately studied an atlas before writing this story! Good! Even the mention of the Bactrian camel is appropriate for this locale!

20 feet = 6 meters

6 inches = 15.25 cm

ostent: appearance, manifestation. It appears there are two valid pronunciations for this word.

viscid: sticky

crystalline apparently has multiple accepted pronunciations. It's the -line part that varies quite a bit.

importunate: persistent, especially to the point of annoyance or intrusion

commination: the act or an instance of threatening punishment or vengeance (Apparently in the Church of England this is also a recital of prayers, including a list of God's judgments against sinners, in the office for Ash Wednesday?)

To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/107/the-invisible-city

On the one hand, the plot was definitely too hurried to make much sense, who spills the beans on your most secret vulnerabilities to a complete stranger right off the bat? On the other hand, the story is already fairly long and to make it work more naturally would require a great deal more story which was no doubt deemed undesirable given the current length. Such is the hazard of short-story writing.