718 THE ANCIENT CEMETERIES OF ASTANA [Chap. XIX
four miles to the north-west of it, can have retained any importance in the fourteenth century. Judging by the number of its sanctuaries, Kao-ch`ang, i.e. Kara-khôja, more centrally and conveniently situated, must have greatly surpassed it in wealth and population during Uigur times, and probably even before them. We can scarcely be wrong in assuming that it was Buddhist cult, ever tenacious of its local associations, that lingered longest among the ruins of this strange semi-troglodyte town, the ancient seat of the ` Anterior Court of Chü-shih '.
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