THE RUINED HOUSES OF UM-LAN. 633
given in Professor Conrady's discussion. I merely desired to describe the external circumstances amid which these documents were discovered. The other two stalls were of course subjected to an equally minute examination; they too were both filled with sand and dust to the depth of about one meter. In the middle stall however we found absolutely nothing, and in the south-western only two or three pieces of torn paper. It is quite possible that this clay house was provided with a roof of kamisch or planking, but that the stalls were open towards the south-east.
Fig. 290. SPECIMENS OF FISH-BONES FROM 1.6U-LAN.
From the middle of the south-western cross-wall there projects towards the S. 6o° W. a low and badly damaged clay wall 19.5 m. long, which again forms part of one side of a square house, the sides of which each measure ioa m. Two of its remaining sides consist of upright posts, the fourth side of kamisch sheaves arranged horizontally. Inside this house two bigger posts, as well as several of the side-posts, still stood upright. The tallest of these — in fact it was the tallest post of all those I measured on this site — is 4.30 m. high. It may indeed be called a remarkable fact, that timber posts which are exposed to such violent storms and to such severe abrasive action on the part of the wind should not only have been able to survive through so many centuries, but also in many cases should have preserved
IIIF Color HighRes
