National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 |
CHAPTER XXIV
RECORDS FROM A HIDDEN ARCHIVE
FOR my new camp I had chosen the group of ruins on the extreme west edge of the site which on my previous visit had been discovered too late for systematic exploration. For the sake of them I had wished ever since to return to the site, and I soon had gratifying proof that these remains I had so long kept in pello, as it were, deserved my faithful
remembrance. From a small and almost completely eroded r structure to the south of the group nearly three dozen official letters on wood were recovered during the early morning of October 24th, besides interesting pieces of lacquer and basket-work in what looked like bamboo.
Encouraged by these finds I next turned my men to the large ruined residence situated nearest to the dwelling
N. xli., with which my excavations of 190I had concluded (Fig. 9o). Here a rich haul awaited me such as I had scarcely ventured to hope for. Already when clearing the rooms north of the large central hall I had come upon some fine pieces of wood-carving (Fig. 92), including an 1 architrave in excellent Gandhara style, which proved that the dwelling must have been that of a well-to-do person. His 7 having been an official of some consequence was suggested 1 by the fact that a long and narrow apartment to the east of 1 the hall, and communicating with it by a series of panelled windows, once probably closed with lattice work, yielded I finds of well-preserved Kharoshthi records on wood of i respectable size, including a tablet measuring fully three i feet in length, and bearing on both sides what seemed to I be drafts for various letters.
The hope of finding more in his office was soon justified
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