国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

192   REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT DELTA   [Chap. VI

L.K. z. 02. Fr. of bronze plate. A" sq.

L.K. z. 03. Glass bead, blue, opaque, ring shaped. Diam.

~",h.}".

L.K. i. oz. Fr. of hemp (?) rope, knotted into loop ; two-ply. Well made. Length 8f", thickness â".

L.K. i. 02. Pestle, hard green-black stone (basalt ?), roughly ellipsoidal, rough at one end. Length z*", diam. xi".

L.K. i. 03. Wooden double-bracket capital in one piece consisting of four members : centre rectangular block which rested on shaft, two brackets and an abacus. Centre block plain, projecting }" from face of brackets ; under-surface, z z" X 7f", containing socket for shaft 3" diam. and zj" deep.

Brackets are simple scrolls falling to level of bottom of block ; their lower inner edges spring from bottom corners of block, rise at about 45° and then scroll over to eye. Their outer line drops nearly vertically but slightly outward from below corners of abacus and then scrolls under to join inner edges. Top and inner borders join abacus and block respectively. Eye, which is too large and cuts into scroll, is treated as a sunk, flattened cone, apex outwards. Edges of brackets slightly chamfered.

Abacus consists of two bands each z" wide. The upper a plain fillet ; the lower, ` weathered ', that is, sloped slightly back from its lower edge to its junction with under-surface of upper fillet, is divided into eight oblong flat billets on the front face. These are separated from each other by vertical prism or keel ornament, $" wide, formed by r. and 1. sloping chisel cuts.

Corner billet is carried round to end face, on which are three billets, including the corner ones. On each end face below centre billet is a small, slightly raised, square label imitating, but without the functional reason, the raised support on pulvinatus of L.M. x. iii. or.

Front and back of double bracket are alike, but one side much split and weathered, while the other is perfect.

In centre of upper surface, which is flat, is mortice 2f" x r x z*" deep. Wood hard. Length 2' 9f", height Io}", thickness 7f". Pl. XV.

L.K. ii. ox. Fr. of bronze plate, oblong, curved, with small hole drilled at one corner. f" x f".

L.K. ii. 02. Glass bead, greenish-blue, semi-transparent, long, tubular. Length xi", diam. f". Pl. XXIV.

L.K. iv. oi. Fr. of pottery ; coarse, red, ill-washed, grey on surface ; showing part of large incised pattern of circles, bands and chevrons orn. with incised lines and dashes. 4f" x 3f" x i~". PI. XXV, XXVi.

L.K. iv. o2. Handle of wooden agricultural (?) implement. Slightly curved horizontally and thickened at one end. To narrow end is attached an iron tang with two rivet holes ; one rivet in position with square washer on upper surface of handle. Perished and split. Length zoo", diam. xi". PI. XXIX.

L.K. v. ox. Fr. of felt, yellow, with band of sewing in white and brown. 5" x 2f".

L.K. v. 02. Frs. of felt, fine, whitish. Gr. length 5".

L.K. v. 03-4. Two goose (?) feathers, broken, brown. Length 6".

March to ruin L.L.

Circum- vallation of L.L.

SECTION III.—THE SITES OF L.L. AND L.M.

On February 7th I proceeded to the small ruined fort that Tokhta Akhûn had reported, and reached it after a march of nearly three miles almost due west of L.K. The ground that we crossed was throughout bare clay sculptured into Ydxdangs by wind-erosion. But the depth of their trenches decreased as the fort L.L. was approached, and in its immediate vicinity did not exceed 5 to 6 feet. There, too, the patches overrun by light drift-sand were more extensive. To the south of our route the line of the ancient river-bed, previously noted near L.K., could be clearly traced by the rows of dead Toghraks along its banks ; its direction lay approximately to the northwest. Some worked stones, including a small jade celt, L.K.—L.L. 01, were picked up on the way and indicated that the area of prehistoric occupation so noticeable near L. K. extended also westwards.

The ruin L.L. proved to be closely akin to L.K. in constructive features, but considerably smaller and less well preserved. Its circumvallation, roughly built of stamped clay with intervening layers of tamarisk branches, formed an oblong of which the two shorter sides, about 138 feet in length, had the bearing ENE. to WSW., thus lying in the direction of the prevailing winds. The two other sides of the oblong showed a length of approximately 218 feet. The rampart, best preserved on the shorter side approximately facing north, showed a thickness of about 26 feet on the ground level and seven successive clay layers each about 16 inches thick. The courses of tamarisk branches and brushwood dividing them had a thickness of about 6 inches.

The east face, which probably had contained the gate, as suggested by a prostrate heavy post,

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