224 THE DESERT EDGE OF KHOTAN CH. XIX
entirely buried beneath a dune. Yet not far off another small Nullah had formed where there was just room for my tent and my servants' camp. Leaving Naik Ram Singh in charge of the labourers' party which was to clear one corner of the intact Stupa base, and to enable him to take an elevation of the elaborate stucco mouldings still adorning it, I pushed southwards where a ` treasure-seeker' from Suya had reported some Titus' and a ruined building. It was of interest for me to supplement my previous knowledge of this tract by the survey of whatever minor ruins might still survive besides Rawak.
After five miles up and down closely packed dunes rising to forty feet and more, we reached the two much-decayed brick mounds reported. They proved to be the remains of small Stupas, about twenty-four feet square at the base, half buried below the sands and, alas ! completely stripped of all architectural decoration. A bare depression between the dunes running southwards showed plentiful pottery débris, an indication of ancient dwellings ; but for the latter one would look in vain on ground so completely eroded. In the course of a short search several tiny Chinese coins, without legend but of ancient look, were picked up here ; their square holes enclosed by the narrowest of rims attested long circulation. Farther on we came upon clear traces of an irrigation channel eight or nine feet broad, well known to Kasim, my guide, as reappearing at several points temporarily left bare by the high dunes. There was the mark of a small tank, too, not far off; its earth embankment, once hardened by moisture, still rose above the level of the surrounding ground which wind erosion had lowered. Even the little earth-cone known as ` Dömbel,' which the villagers to this day invariably leave in the centre of their tanks, was clearly recognizable.
The ruin which I had come in search of, was hidden away in a curious bay-like depression between steep dunes a short distance eastwards. With the experience of my former labours it was easy to see that the scanty remains were those of a temple cella built in timber and plaster, about twenty-seven by twenty-four feet, enclosed on its
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