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0243 Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 / Page 243 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000234
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CHAP. XI.]

OLD REMAINS AT MOJI   191

nished nie with numerous pieces of pottery showing ornamental designs and often glazed in bright colours. In the bed of the ravine others set to work to seek for coins, and from the burrows they made half a dozen copper pieces were dug out in my presence. There can be no doubt that these coins have been washed out originally from the same débris layers to which the pottery belongs. Thus a clue is gained for the date of the latter, which may help in regard to the chronology of other sites. With the pottery there is found a great deal of broken glass and small bits of jade. Among the former I noticed a number of pieces with that iridescence which is so frequent in the ancient glassware of the West. The production of glass is a long-forgotten art in Turkestan.

From Tögujai I rode to another old site, one and a half miles north-east of Moji, known as Hasa, which had already attracted Dr. Hedin's notice. It is undoubtedly a Muhammadan cemetery, but there is no clear indication as to its date. On a small hillock, from which skulls and skeletons were protruding, I found a number of graves covered with wooden boards. One of them which I opened showed the remains of a child, wrapped iii the cotton stuff of the country, and turned towards the Qibla in accordance with orthodox practice. Though the graves are supposed to be those of Shahids, i.e., Musulmans who fell fighting the infidel, the men with me had no scruples whatever in exposing their contents—a proof that fanatical superstition can have no deep hold on them. The sand of the desert has invaded this resting-place, and emphasises its look of desolation. The sky was in full accord with the scene, dust-laden and hazy. Of the mountains no trace could be seen, though Sanju, whence the Karakorum route starts, lies only some twelve miles south of Moji. It seems to me probable that Moji occupies the position indicated by Hiuen-Tsiang for the town of Po-kia-i, where a famous Buddha statue brought from Kashmir was worshipped in the pilgrim's time.