LETTER FROM SIR AUREL STEIN 251
and in Indian script, to be made temporarily available for examination by Western scholars.'
Perhaps the time may not be too distant when competent Chinese scholars will be prepared to recognize that researches bearing on the cultural past of their country have suffered by the obstacles which unjustified agitation has raised against continued work of a confrère who has done as much as any one to throw light on the great and beneficent part played by ancient China in the history of Central Asia.
1 It was learned subsequently that the Consulate-General some time after my departure and that of Captain G. Sherriff was obliged to accede to the insistent demand of the Tao-tai of Kashgar, and to hand over the small collection into the precarious keeping of that dignitary. Nothing has been heard since about its disposal, and it appears very doubtful whether any of the objects will ever reach an authorized place of deposit.
Apart from stucco relief plaques, terra-cotta figurines, and similar small antiques from Khotan abundantly represented in former collections, there were among the acquisitions by purchase a few
paper manuscript fragments in Indian and Tibetan writing. Of more interest were a number of wooden documents recovered by me among ruined dwellings of the Niya Site (the ancient Chingchüeh) dating from the third century A.D., partly tablets bearing Indian Kharosthi script and partly fragmentary Chinese slips. Foreseeing the likely fate of these documents in the hands of local officials, I had taken care with Captain Sherriff's friendly help to obtain photographs of these written materials. Arrangements have been made for their study and publication by competent scholar collaborators.
IIIFカラー高解像度
