IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
344 AT VASH-SHAHRI AND CHARKLIK CH. XXIX
they might then have contained. So much, however, I I
may mention, that whatever exact topographical indications I
are furnished by the itineraries contained in those records, I
clearly point to Charklik as the chief settlement of Lou-lan I
or Shan-shan. Î
So it was some satisfaction to me to find that signs of i
ancient occupation hitherto unnoticed were traceable in
the very centre of the present cultivated area of Charklik, d
even on the surface. Quite close to the east of my i
quarters stretched one of the walls of a ruined circumvalla- 1
tion built in oblong shape and well known to the people t
as the ' Sipil.' Its mud ramparts, though badly decayed and completely levelled in places for the sake of cultiva-
tion within and without, could easily be made out for just 1
over half a mile from north to south. Its width was about
one-third of a mile. The extant height of the ramparts i
varied from twelve to twenty feet. Though the whole of t
the interior was occupied by fields and homesteads, a rapid t
examination disclosed here and there remains of manifestly ]
old structures in large bricks partially utilized by the e
modern settlers. In one of these I thought I could t
recognize the surviving portion of a small Stupa with its e
circular dome twelve feet wide and, of course, long ago t
dug into for ' treasure.' i
Far more imposing was the ancient mound known as i
the ' Tora,' or tower, to which my attention was called 3
about one mile away to the north-west. There, within t
about 30o yards from the left bank of the river, rose a t
large and steep mound to over fifty feet above the irrigated level. The layers of rubbish with plentiful large
stones exposed on its slopes left no doubt about its L
artificial origin. The top bore much-dilapidated remains of a brick structure, about sixteen feet in diameter and
still rising to a height of twelve feet on the north side. i
Below it the brickwork of a much wider square or oblong 1
base was traceable. There could be little doubt about its I
being the remnant of a Stupa dating from Buddhist times. I
But the mound below was far too large to be formed by i
the débris of any single structure, and the strata of rubbish composing it, where laid bare by cuttings,
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