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0234 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 234 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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166   THE ' THOUSAND BUDDHAS' CH. LXIV

The first task was to assure that I should be allowed to see the whole of the manuscripts, and in their original place of deposit. Only thus could I hope to ascertain the true character and approximate date of the collection which had lain hidden behind the passage wall. In order to

effect this Chiang had been despatched in the morning to another restored cave-temple where the priest had his

quarters, and proceeded to sound him in confidential

fashion about the facilities which were to be given. It proved a very protracted affair. Backed up by the promise

of a liberal donation for the main shrine, the Ssû-yeh's

tactful diplomacy seemed at first to make better headway than I had ventured to hope for. The saintly guardian of

the reputed treasure explained that the walling up of the

door was intended for a precaution against the curiosity of the pilgrims who had recently flocked to the site in their

thousands. But evidently wary and of a suspicious mind, he

would not yet allow himself to be coaxed into any promise about showing the collection to us as a whole. All that he

would agree to, with various meticulous reservations, was

to let me see eventually such specimens of the collection as he might conveniently lay his hands on. When

Chiang, in his zeal momentarily forgetting the dictates

of diplomatic reticence, was cautiously hinting at the possibility of my wishing, perhaps, to acquire ` for future

study' one or other of those specimens, the Tao-shih showed such perturbation, prompted equally, it seemed, by scruples of a religious sort and fear of popular resentment, that my sharp-witted secretary thought it best to drop the subject for a time.

But after hours of such diplomatic wrangling he did not leave the priest's smoke-filled chapel and kitchen combined

without having elicited an important piece of information. Statements heard at Tun-huang seemed to indicate that the great find of manuscripts had been reported at the

time to the Tao-t'ai at Su-chou and thence to the Viceroy of Kan-su. Expression had been given also to a belief, of

which we had no means of testing the foundation, that the latter had given orders for the transmission of specimens and for the safe keeping of the whole collection. If such