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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

754   HISTORY AND RECORDS OF THE TUN-HUANG LIMES [Chap. XX

Fire-signals inhabited area, there must have been also arrangements for transmitting fire-signals from the line of

to stations the wall to the military headquarters and to the tina s inside the oasis.' Even now there are plenty within culti-

vated area. of watch-towers to be found within the cultivated area of Tun-huang and the border districts east-

ward which may at one time or another have been used for similar purposes.7a But as they are built mostly with layers of stamped clay, and no datable remains are traceable on the surface near them, it is impossible to determine their age. We may, however, probably recognize a reference to such signal-stations at a distance from the Limes wall in Doc. No. 61, which gives ` a list of the fire-signals in the [military district of the] Yi-ho to-[weir, and among the names mentioned for them we find such as Kuang-chi, Kura-lama, and Yii-tsê, which can otherwise be proved to have been those of headquarters stations within the command of Tun-huang.8

Traces of   We have other relics of the fire-signal service once maintained along the Limes, besides the
signal-fires. watch-towers themselves, which, as their shape and position show, must have been primarily designed

for that purpose. Where the tops of the towers were still intact or accessible, I could often trace

the mark left by the fires once lit there in the burnt red colour of the clay or brickwork.9 But even

the perishable materials used for these signal-fires have survived in places to the present day. Stacks of In the light of the evidence of the above-quoted texts and documents, it can no longer be doubted

fascines for that the regular stacks of fascines, made up of reeds, brushwood, orToghrak branches, which I round signal-fires.

near a number of watch-towers, T. vi. b, xi, xii. a, etc., either in a half-petrified condition or else reduced to small calcined fragments through burning,10 had been prepared and kept ready mainly for use in signal-fires. When lit on the spot, they would produce those columns of thick smoke, the true fens- ,, which, as we have seen, were needed for signalling in day-time. At the same time the

fascines could equally well be carried off for use as torches for night-signalling on the towers, or put to more homely use in keeping fires going in the picket's modest quarters. The number of fascines needed both in the construction of the wall and for constant supply at the watch-towers must have been very great. Hence it seems very probable that, as suggested by M. Chavannes, fascines are meant in the fragmentary slip No. 609, which mentions a total of 42,33o bundles, shu *, i.e. faggots. That keeping a careful watch and guard along and beyond the Limes wall was an essential duty for the small detachments posted at the watch-towers does not need special proof. We find this duty

often referred to in the documents by the term IR   , which M. Chavannes has fully explained." One
document, No. 555, where a modified term is used, distinctly tells us that out of four soldiers on duty on a certain date ` one constantly mounted guard', while two others collected fuel and the fourth apparently acted as cook. Elsewhere, too, similarly plain references are coupled with records of ' fatigues '.12 But more curious is the nexus in which we find this duty of watching enjoined in the fragmentary order No. 265. M. Chavannes translates it : ` Keep your look-out with zeal ; clearly delimitate the celestial

fields; observe the movements which take place beyond the frontier ; whatever you learn, at once ...'

The phrase hua t'ien t`ien   of which the words in italics in the above translation are

Look-out kept at watchtowers.

7 It is likely that the line of watch-towers traced"from T. xry south towards the extreme end of Nan-hu cultivation near T. xvIII. a, b, served such a purpose, and that they existed before the secondary wall, discussed above, pp. 691 sqq., was built along it.

7a The lighting of signal-fires as a means for assuring safety against attacks is specially referred to in the votive inscription of a woodcut, presented by an officer of tl.c Tunhuang force, probably in the tenth century ; see M. Petrucci's remarks on Ch. 00205, in Appendix E, 1.

8 Cf. the text quoted in M. Chavannes' note, Documents,

p. 26, on No. 6i ; also Doc. Nos. 398, 462.

g Thus, e.g., at T. vi. c, XIV, xIx, xxI, xxIU. a, etc.

10 Cf. above, pp. 650, 677 sq., 71 I. As explained there, the regular 7-feet size of the fascines in these stacks proves that they were available also for any repairs which might be necessary in the Limes wall.

11 Cf. Documents, p. xiii; also p. ix, note 3 ; Doc. Nos. 6o, 189, 265, 432, 495, 623. •

12 See No. 279, 281, where the plain hou   suffices to
indicate the guard-mounting.