174 THE PULSE OF ASIA
with nothing by which to date it. The general appearance, the aggregation of the houses, and the condition of the surrounding vegetation suggest that the site is at least as old as Khadaluk.
Farther west, the ruins of Uzun Tetti and Ulugh Mazar proved to be more extensive than appears from previous explorations. From the shrine of Lachinata for five miles to the northwest, to Ulugh Mazar, and thence six miles farther to the northeast, I found abundant pottery. There were also other relics of human occupation, including the traces of a mud house, the straw of an old threshing-floor, and even the characteristic pattern of the ditches of ancient melon fields. The entire appearance was such as to suggest that the site was not abandoned till a later date than Khadaluk. The pottery also pointed to the same conclusion, for unlike that of more ancient sites, it was wheel-made, the ornamental designs were drawn in curves with a stick of several points, and one bit had a green glaze. This conclusion is confirmed by the historic records of the Mohammedan conquest, and by some coins of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries which Stein found at Ulugh Mazar. It appears that at the time of the Mohammedan conquest, and later, not only was Chira inhabited much as it is to-day, as is proved by early Mohammedan records, but that here, twelve miles to the north, along the line where the Chira River would flow if it were large enough, an equally large area, about six miles by eight in size, was also densely populated.
From Ulugh Mazar I came back almost to my starting-point, and spent a day with the Beg of Malakalagan, the northern part of Dumuka. A short distance north of the
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