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0350 Ancient Khotan : vol.1
Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / Page 350 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000182
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Receding cultivated area.

288   THE RUINS OF DANDÄN-UILIQ   [Chap. IX

and Domoko, once brought water to the lands of the old settlement. The deserted site of Uzun-Tati, which certainly was occupied down to the thirteenth century, and perhaps even later, furnishes unmistakable proof that the cultivated area dependent on these streams has receded considerably during the last six centuries.

of      That the process, whatever its cause, has been continuing in this area down to quite recent
times, is shown by the observations which I had occasion to make near the oases of Gulakhma and Domoko, and which will be found fully detailed in a subsequent chapter "4. There the homesteads and cultivation of certain villages have, owing to the difficulty of carrying the irrigation water sufficiently far, shifted, within the memory of living men, as much as 6 to 8 miles further to the south. The immediate cause which led to the abandonment of Dandan-Uiliq cannot, for historical and topographical reasons, be supposed to have been identical. Yet it is certain that the crumbling ruins of homesteads which I saw at these deserted village sites of Gulakhma and Domoko, stripped of all materials that could be of use, and the miles of once cultivated ground which the drift-sand of the desert is now slowly overrunning, but on which the lines of empty canals, the little terraces embanked for irrigation, the poplar-lined roads, &c., can still be made out, are the best illustration of the process by which the habitations and lands of old Li-hsieh became finally merged in the desert.

SECTION VIII.—LIST OF OBJECTS EXCAVATED OR FOUND AT DANDAN-UILIQ

OBJECTS FROM RUINED SHRINE D. i.

D. 1. D.I.2. Stucco relief fragment. White chunam, coloured. Replica D. I. 94. Portion of vesica and figure to level of L. p. elbow. Hair black, robe and outer ray blue, inner portion of vesica red. 3" high, 14" wide.

D. I. 7. Stucco relief fragment; ornament. White chunam, coloured pink, green, and grey (?). Portion of lotus-petal border of aureole. Cf. D. u. 24. Length 7k', width x ". Hard, scored at back, fragment of grass adhering.

D. I. 8. Stucco relief fragment; ornament ; Replica D. r. 7 ; coloured pink, blue, and black (?). 7k" x 1 ".

D. I. 10. Stucco relief fragment. Grey chunam, coloured. Traces of pink and blue. Border of aureole (vesica?) similar to that of D. r. 42. Within this border, on field, portion of an inner border consisting of jewels composed of a centre, ovoid cartouche, round which two fillets, and a row of beads. Size of complete jewel about z". See Plate LVII.

D. 1. II. Stucco relief fragment; standing Buddha. Feet missing ; fitted with head, D. T. o6. Grey chunam, no colour. Long red robe, green undergarment, open low at neck. R. p. hand raised to centre of breast, palm outwards. L. p. arm depending straight at side holding

lightly loose end of robe. Cast bears evidence of having been worked upon with modelling tool. Height width z$".

D. 1. 14. Stucco relief fragment ; two top joints of finger, life-size. Red clay, with traces of whitewash. Filbert shape nail, trimmed short below tip of finger. Cf. E. I. 4. Friable.

D. 1. 18. Stucco relief fragment ; head, female (Gandharvi). Pink chunam, traces of black or dark colour. Hair divided over temples and flowing backwards and outwards behind ears, also gathered in high loose knob on top of head and tied with narrow band. Ears elongated. Nimbus. L. p. hand raised to level of hair knob, knuckles touching nimbus, grasping end of rosary-like garland, of which two beads remain. Replica D. L 89. Height z s", width zr.

D. 1. 24. Stucco relief fragment ; standing Buddha. Lower half; feet missing. Grey chunam, traces of colour.

Replica D. i. x x. Height 3/".

D. 1.25. Stucco relief fragment; ornament.

Chunam,

traces of colour. Roots of two rows of flames. Contour of cross-section almost semicircular. Deeply reeded into six divisions, also two detached tongues of flame, the upper portion of each waved almost to a right angle with

" See below, chap. xzu. sec. ii.