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0180 Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 / Page 180 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000234
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128   STAY AT KASHGAR   CHAP. VIII.

correspondence the Tao-tai agreed to issue the desired instructions. The result showed that he faithfully carried out his promise, and that Mr. Macartney's representations,. coupled with what explanations I could give through him of the historical connection of ancient Indian culture and Buddhist religion with Central Asia, had effectually dispelled any suspicions which might otherwise have been roused by the intended excavations and surveys.

Iii the course of these interviews my references to the ` Si-yu-ki,' the records of Hiuen-Tsiang's travels, proved

singularly helpful. All educated Chinese officials seem to

have read or heard legendary accounts of the famous Chinese pilgrim's visit to the Buddhist kingdoms of the " Western

countries." In my intercourse with them I never appealed in

vain to the memory of the " great monk of the Tang dynasty " (Tang-Seng). Endeavouring as I now was to trace his footsteps through Turkestan as I had done before in more than

one part of India, I might well claim that saintly traveller as my special patron in the heaven of Arhats.

Strange enough it seemed to me at the time, this pleasant intercourse with the friendly old Tao-tai, his colleague, the Hsieh-tai,' or General, and the rest of the local Mandarins, when I thought of the great political upheaval far away in

the east of the empire. Through the Reuter telegrams

transmitted from Gilgit and the news indirectly conveyed to us from Russian sources we knew of' the fierce fighting

around the legations and the danger surrounding European

settlements elsewhere in China. Through the telegraph line from Urumchi to Kashgar the Chinese officials too were

receiving accounts of the great conflagration, and apparently fairly correct ones. For while Europe was held in horrified suspense by the false news of a general massacre at Peking, the reports communicated to us from the Yamen, though admitting much fighting, stoutly maintained that the legations kept up their defence and were safe.