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0393 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 / Page 393 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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CH. xX   FIRST MANUSCRIPT FINDS   24I

labourers ; so next morning by daybreak the work could be resumed with increased vigour. It needed a large number of men to clear away the big heaps of sand accumulating behind the line of actual diggers. With satisfaction I greeted the first indication of the structural disposition of the building, a line of low broken posts marking the position of a timber and plaster wall. It was plainly the south wall of a quadrangular cella or of its enclosing passage, and I soon ascertained that it extended to the length of about seventy-four feet, more than three times that of the largest cella wall at Dandan-oilik.

As the clearing proceeded within the line of this wall, the manuscript finds became so frequent that I soon had to give up the attempt to number all the fragments individually. The ground was divided into sections, and the fragments collected in separate paper-bags marked accordingly. All large collections of leaves or finds otherwise important I tried to extract myself and to sort and pack on the spot. But the task proved almost too much, so constant were the summons from all points of the front line of searchers announcing the discovery of fresh ` Khats.'

The day's work was truly exciting, but like the rest of the labours which were to follow here it also meant a test of endurance. The heat of the sun was still great and the glare and the dust most trying. During the half-hour's recess which I had to allow to the men and myself about mid-day, it was difficult to get rid even superficially of the thick crust of fine sand which covered me from head to foot. There were reasons for pushing on the work as rapidly as possible, and I felt glad that my physical fitness allowed me to stick to it without any consideration of health or comfort. I was grateful, too, for the sturdy labourers who cheerfully kept at their work for nearly twelve hours each day, wielding their ` Ketmans ' with a vigour that astonished my trained sapper Ram Singh. Ibrahim Beg was indefatigable in urging on the men when they showed any signs of flagging ; and by picking out the most intelligent of Roze Akhun's party which had followed me from Hanguya, I soon obtained efficient foremen for the several gangs.

VOL. I   R