PREFACE xi
taking help rendered by him once more on a similar task. Writing most of my account far away from London, I have had to depend for details of objects very largely on Mr. Andrews's careful descriptive notes. In the same way the troublesome work of selecting and arranging specimens from the multitude of small objects for reproduction in plates has been mainly done by him. The illustrations of pottery shapes in Plates XXXI—XXXIV are from his hand. I feel very grateful for the kindly fate which for fully 46 years past has given me a most willing and experienced helpmate in my antiquarian tasks in the person of Mr. Andrews.
To the authorities of the British Museum I am indebted for the safe accommodation of the collection while under examination and for the manifold facilities granted in connexion therewith. Among these I must gratefully mention the opportunity afforded by Mr. R. L. Hobson, Keeper of Ceramics, for an exhibition, arranged in 1934, of representative specimens of antiques gathered on the journeys of 1931-3 and previously in British Balûchistan. I am greatly obliged to him also for the favour of having brought his expert knowledge to bear on the early Muhammadan pottery collected on those journeys and having contributed a lucid analysis of the prevailing types in Appendix A. Mr. J. Allan, Keeper of Coins, has given kind help by the determination of coin finds on this as on former occasions.
To my friend Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham, late I.C.S., I am greatly indebted for a helpful revision of my text, and to the Oxford University Press for the care bestowed on its printing and on the illustrations. The faithful reproduction of objects in three-colour plates is due, as in the case of all former publications of mine, to Messrs. Henry Stone and Son, Banbury. Last, but not least, I must record my special obligation to Messrs. Macmillan and Co. for the very generous way in which all my requests concerning this publication have been met by them.
In concluding these introductory notes on the origin of my investigations and on the presentation of their results I may refer very briefly to the general character and scope of the labours which this report is intended to record. What had specially directed my attention to the field chosen for them was the fact that here, just as was once the case in the far-away Tarim basin, a great area, largely desertic and little known in its geographical aspects, but of distinct interest because of its relation to important neighbouring regions, had so far remained archaeologically unexplored. As realized from the first, the disproportion between the vast extent of the ground to be searched and the limitations of time due to regard for my age and to other practical considerations was bound to
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