CHAP. xx.] PAINTED PANELS 319
hoofs, carries a deep and narrow saddle ovér a large ` Numdah ' or felt-cloth, and shows elaborate trappings. These include a single bridle, a surcingle, breastplate and crupper, as well as a large ornamental plate that covers the forehead and nose. Two curious horns project from this plate, the one at the forehead carrying what might be the Trisula, or Indian trident, while the other above the noseband is surmounted by what looks like a mango-shaped tassle in red silk, represented also on other parts of the trappings. We could not have wished for a more accurate picture of that " horse millinery " which in the eighth century evidently flourished throughout Turkestan as much as it does nowadays. No less interesting is the representation of the second figure below, riding on a two-humped camel, shown in full movement and with striking fidelity to nature.
The rider, whose face is partly deleted, wears over his short curly hair a curious sugar-loaf hat, with its broad brim turned up into
Vandyke ' points. Marks on the hat indicate some spotted fur as its material. The long' and loose-fitting green garment worn by the rider is gathered below the knee into the wide tops of red boots, or mocassins without soles, closely resembling the ` Charuks ' still used through the whole of Eastern Turkestan, particularly during the winter months. While the left hand is guiding the camel by a nose-cord, the right, in the same pose as that of the rider above, raises a shell-shaped cup. The elaborate fittings of the saddle and the stirrups show that the animal bestridden by this personage is meant for a riding camel, a mount rarely used nowadays in these regions. Some freely drawn contour-lines visible behind the camel indicate a hilly country, or else high ridges of sand. The nimbus painted round the head of each of the mounted figures show plainly their holy character, and the identity of their attitude leaves no doubt as to their connection in what evidently was a sacred legend. But as to the nature of this legend, which, as already stated, appears also elsewhere in the decoration of Dandan-Uiliq shrines, no clue has as yet been traced.
It is impossible to give here either reproductions or detailed accounts of the other panels, one of them painted on both sides,
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