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0254 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.1
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 / 254 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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146   STAY AT KÖK-YAR

CH. XII

on one side. So under the guidance of a fine old Haji, who in the Yüz-bashi's absence did the honours of the place, I rode forth to inspect other well-to-do cultivators' houses and gardens. I failed to find any suitable for so large a party as ours, but this lordly house-hunting gave me at least an excellent idea of local domestic

architecture.   Our reception everywhere was of the
friendliest, however unexpected may have been such an invasion.

Having satisfied myself, after the inspection of a dozen or so of " desirable residences," that Chavash Beg's house was the best I could choose for my stay, I settled down in it with additional pleasure. Substantial as it was and over a hundred years old, I found it easy to make alterations in the arrangement of the rooms to suit my needs. To let the servants pass through the large loggia, which in this cooler climate does for an Aiwan, was, of course, out of the question. So in less than ten minutes a passage was broken through the mud wall of one of the rooms to give another exit to the kitchen. The garden, which was to serve as my safest retreat, contained only rows of fruit-trees and some fields of lucerne. But even without flowers I preferred its shady and green open air to dark rooms or a loggia fully exposed to the morning sun.

Grateful I felt for the seclusion Kök-yar offered and the comparative coolness ; for the tasks to be disposed of were so heavy that it took fifteen long days of constant labour from 6 A.M. until dusk before I managed to get clear of them. Appendices of all kinds to my Ancient Khotan, descriptions of some two hundred plates, and finally an introduction had to be prepared, copied, and sent off to distant Oxford, where self-sacrificing friends were to see all these tiresome parerga through the press. It was no small relief when I found that in my little camp despatch-box all needful materials had safely arrived with me.

Happy summers of hard work on Alpine plateaus of Kashmir and Kaghan had spoilt me in regard to quietness of my surroundings. With my little pony corps and my camel detachment close by there was little hope of such

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