THE RUINED HOUSES OF LAU-LAN. 631
a hollow 2 to 3 m. deep and extending from N. 7o° E. to S. 7o° W. ; on the souht it is bordered by the sharp-cut wind-eroded face of the larger platform. The three houses I have mentioned, standing at a considerable distance from the main portion of the village, appear to point to the existence of scattered dwellings, and I have no doubt that a more thorough search than that I was able to devote to the site would result in the discovery of several other houses. The topography of the village would appear in fact to have closely resembled the plan which is still customary in the towns and villages of East Turkestan, and their environs; that is to say, a central nucleus with the houses and offices of the officials, the caravanserais, and bazaars, while scattered round about in the environs are detached groups of buildings and homesteads separated from one another by orchards and cultivated fields. That we failed to discover amongst these ruins any traces of similar cultivation was of course not to be expected, for the surface of the earth has there been literally planed down and swept away by the wind.
From the southern corner of complex D to the nearest northern corner of complex E, in a direction S. 6o° W., is 120 in. The ground-plan of the latter cornplex is more irregular than that of the former. First, we may distinguish an irregular four-sided structure, or apartment, the north-western wall of which was entirely missing. This is rather strange, for that side must have been far less exposed to the wind than, for instance, the east walls in complex D. Of the other three walls one, 19.6 m. long, was indicated by foundation-beams resting on the ground, while the other two were constructed of sun-dried clay. The one looking southeast was 13.8 m. long, and the other, facing south-west, 8.4 m. In the interior of this apartment was a heap of beams more or less split and cracked; here again the rule held good, that the portions of the timber which lie underground are the best preserved, in fact they were often quite uninjured. To the south-west of this apartment there occurred another, similar to it, though its clay walls only in part survived. The wall that faces south-east was I I in. long and had a narrow door-way; two or three small side-posts would appear to have lent it greater support. Approximately as a continuation of the partition-wall between the two rooms a similar clay wall ran towards the S. 3o° E., and was 20.3 m. long; a heap of poles and planks at its southeast end bore witness that a house had collapsed there. North-east of this same wall a similar wall, 25,7 m. long and constructed of beams and sheaves of kamisch, ran to the S. 15° E., and thus was not parallel with the first wall. South-west of the clay wall were the outlines of a rectangular apartment of huge horizontal beams.
Between complex E and complex F, and to the north-west, stands a small house, measuring 6.6 and 5.4 m., and divided into two rooms. Its walls consist of poles and posts partly horizontal, partly standing vertically upright. A pretty big heap of coal inside it seemed to point to its having been a smithy.
The house that stands farthest north in complex F proved to be the most interesting and the most remarkable of all. Its principal wall forms a continuation of the longest clay wall in complex E, and consequently extends from N. 6o° E. to S. 6o° W. From it project four smaller walls towards the south-east. From the south-east corner of complex -E to the first cross-wall is a distance of 15.6 m. The portion of the long wall from which these four cross-walls project is 6.s m. in length,
Hedin, yonrney in Central Asia. II. 8o
IIIFカラー高解像度
