CHAP. XVIII.] PAINTED PANELS AND RELIEVOS 291
and constructed in a very ingenious way from stalks of some hardy grass. At their bottom these stalks were plaited into a continuous strip subsequently rolled up tightly and bound round with twisted grass, while their feathery ends, being thus brought into a bunch, form a convenient birch-like broom. The sand against which these humble implements were once used to wage war had been the means of preserving them in almost perfect condition ; and the same was the case with another curious relic, a little cloth bag filled with fragments of bones and human teeth, which turned up in the south-eastern corner close to the small seated image already described. Had they been brought here by some visitor as reputed relics of the body of a saintly personage, or were they ex-votos deposited with some superstitious object ?
As the work of clearing proceeded along the east wall of the cella it revealed a series of very interesting frescoes, together with a relievo statue in stucco of a peculiar character. As seen in the photograph it is a male figure, complete but for the head and left arm, standing close to the platform already mentioned and over the body of a prostrate foe. The figure, which measured a little over 3 ft. from the heel to below the arm-pit, is clad in a coat of mail reaching below the knees and elaborately decorated. The gay colours of the successive rows of small plates which form the mail, alternately red-blue and red-green, were remarkably well preserved, and not less so all the details of the ornaments which are shown along the front and lower edge of the coat and on the girdle around the waist. Even the arrangement of the rivets which join the plates of mail, and the folds of the garment protruding below the armour, are indicated with great accuracy. There can be no doubt that the artist has carefully reproduced here details of armour and dress with which he was familiar from his own times. The feet, which seem to be clad in wide top-boots of leather, just like the ` Charuks ' still worn throughout Eastern Turkestan, are placed over the contorted body manifestly of a vanquished demon. The features of the latter's head, which alone is raised somewhat from the ground, with the eyes wide open and the teeth displayed, express
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