than 7 feet, greatly increasing towards the west and east corners. But I realised that great masses of sand would have to be shifted before these sculptures could be systematically unearthed and examined in safety. For the heavy earthwork implied by this task it was necessary to await the arrival of the reinforcements already summoned. But in the meantime I was able to utilise the dozen labourers already at hand for such clearings as the preliminary survey of the structural remains demanded.
The result of this survey showed that the Stupa court formed a great quadrangle 164 feet long from north-west to south-east, and 143 feet broad. It was enclosed by a solidly built wall-of sun-dried bricks, a little over 3 feet thick, and rising to a height of over 11 feet at the exposed south corner of the court, but once probably higher. The centre of the quadrangle is occupied by the imposing Stupa base, which rises in two stories to a height of 20 feet above the floor. The photograph on p. 450 shows it as seen from the inner south corner of the court, before any clearing. Owing to bold projections on each face, originally supporting well-proportioned flights of steps, the ground plan of the base showed the shape of a symmetrically developed . cross, each of the four arms of which extended to 50 feet on the lowest level.
The diameter of the Stupa dome, which was raised on a projecting circular drum and constructed like the rest of the structure of sun-dried bricks, measured a little over 32 feet. It seems to have had an inner chamber about 72 feet in diameter, but this could not be exactly determined, as a large cutting had been made into the dome from the west. The top of the Stupa had also been broken long ago, the extant masonry reaching to a height of 33 feet above the level of the court. The dome had probably always been exposed to the attacks of "treasure-seekers" as well as to erosion, and the destruction thus caused made it quite impossible to determine its original height. The broad flight of steps which occupied the centre of each of the four faces of the base, and led up without a break from the court to the foot of the dome, must have been an imposing feature. The one on the south-east side, which faces the
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