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0121 Serindia : vol.2
セリンディア : vol.2
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doi: 10.20676/00000183
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Sec. iii]   THE ANCIENT STATION T. vr. B AND ITS RECORDS   649

detachment stationed at T. vi. b, who were sent to Pu-ch`ang to fetch grain. On two successive journeys they carried six sacks altogether. ' This makes a total of 188 li and I zo steps for going and coming, that is for each man 62 li and 240 steps.' Leaving aside the meticulous addition of r zo steps to the total, as the ancient ' military Babu ' himself evidently did when he calculated the average distance done by each man, and taking 36o steps as the recognized standard for r li, we get 62.66 _ 2 = 3 I.33 li as the distance covered on each journey, and consequently 15.66 li as the distance between T. vi. b and Pu-ch`ang.

If we look at the map and consider the character of the ground, it is quite clear that supplies of food-stuffs reaching T. vi. b from a permanently occupied post could come only from the side of the Limes line proper, the whole length of which, I may note here, is practicable for carts." The watch-station nearest to T. vi. b on that side is T. vi. a, and the direct distance to it just three miles. This converted into li at the rate of 5 li for the mile, which I have found the approximately constant average for early Chinese measurements of distance in Central Asia, gives us exactly 15 li.12 The agreement with the distance recorded to Pu-ch`ang is complete, considering that allowance must be made for its slightly greater length by road, and I therefore think it practically certain that the watch-post of Pu-ch`ang must be identified with the ruined station T. vI. a. Furthermore, we find in T. vi. b. ii. 7, another perfectly clear record (Doc. No. 258, Plate VIII), the posts of Pu-ch`ang and Ling-hu, i. e. T. vr. b, mentioned together as evidently adjacent stations to which the watch-post of Kuang-wzi sends on a message for the purpose of circulation.13 The location of Kuang-wu at the ruined station T. v, the next to the north, naturally suggests itself ; but as the name is not found again it is impossible to test the conjecture.

Leaving the points of general interest for the history and conditions of the Tun-huang Limes that are presented by the records to be discussed in Chapter xx, I may conclude this account of T. vi. b with brief references to some of the miscellaneous relics found among the refuse-heaps. They were by no means as plentiful as might have been expected from the great extent to be searched. T. vi. b. i. 001-004 (Plate LII) are wooden pegs of a curious type, which was found abundantly represented elsewhere along the line of the Limes (see T. 002 in List). Its purpose has not yet been determined. The pegs resemble in shape the usual tent-peg and have a flattened triangular section ; their top is roughly cut and painted to give it the appearance of a human head. From the wear usually shown by the pointed end it is safe to conclude that these pegs were meant to be driven into the ground ; but they are certainly not strong enough to have served as real tent-pegs, especially in a region exposed to such violent winds. T. VI. b. i. 009, ooi i are remains of shoes, made mainly with woven string, apparently of hemp, and after a pattern illustrated in Plate LIV by specimens from other stations on the Limes. The fibrous material of which the string used in these shoes is made deserves a more exact examination, in view of the record on a slip from this very station, T. vi. b. i. 102, Doc., No. 96 (Plate v). It contains a ' fatigue' statement of three men who had been sent to collect hemp for shoes. As each covered only i o li in going and coming, the plant must have grown quite close to the station, probably on marshy ground.14

Pu-ch`ang post identified with T. vi. a.

Position of
Kuang-wu
post (T. v ?).

Miscellaneous relics from refuse.

Hemp for shoes.

" We do not know what particular reason necessitated the transport of this grain from Pu-ch'ang by mcn. But it is certain that the configuration of the intervening ground must have made, then as now, transport by cart, always with Chinese the most favoured form of conveyance, impossible.

I had practical demonstration of this myself in May, 5907, when badly needed supplies, which I had ordered from Tunhuang and, of course, expected by camels, were brought up in a cart. It managed to reach as far as C. 575, after which the steepness of the plateau slopes made progress impossible.

1347

So camels were sent back to bring the supplies on to our camp near T. vi. b.

12 Cf. e.g. Ancient Khotan, i. pp. 32, 233, 435, etc.; above, pp. 320, 625.

13 Whether it is possible in any way to connect Kuang-

wu   JAL with the name of the Kuang-ch`ang la A

company mentioned above, p. 648 (see Doc. Nos. 62, 63) I must leave to others to consider.

" I may note here that a hemp plant growing along the

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