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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

CHAP. XLV. p. 223.   CAMPICHU---ETZINA.   53

after their fashion. In these they have an enormous number of idols,

both small and great, certain of the latter being a good ten paces in

stature ; some of them being of wood, others of clay, and others yet of

stone. They are all highly polished, and then covered with gold. The

great idols of which I speak lie at length. And round about them there

are other figures of considerable size, as if adoring and paying homage

before them."

The ambassadors of Shah Rukh to China (1419-1422)

wrote :

" In this city of Kamchau there is an idol temple five hundred

cubits square. In the middle is an idol lying at length, which

measures fifty paces. The sole of the foot is nine paces long,

and the instep is twenty-one cubits in girth. Behind this image

and overhead are other idols of a cubit (?) in height, besides

figures of Bakshis as large as life. The action of all is hit off so

admirably that you would think they were alive. Against the

wall also are other figures of perfect execution. The great

sleeping idol has one hand under his head, and the other resting

on his thigh. It is gilt all over, and is known as Shakamuni fu.

The people of the country come in crowds to visit it, and bow to

the very ground before this idol " (Cathay, I., p. 277).

XLV., p. 223.

OF THE CITY OF ETZINA.

I said, I., p. 225, that this tdwn must be looked for on

the river Hei-slmi, called Etsina by the Mongols, and would be

situated on the river on the border of the Desert, at the top of a

triangle, whose bases would be Suhchau and Kanchau. My

theory seems to be fully confirmed by Sir Aurel Stein, who

writes :

" Advantages of geographical position must at all times have

invested this extensive riverine tract, limited as are its resources,

with considerable importance for those, whether armed host or

traders, who would make the long journey from the heart of

Mongolia in the north to the Kansu oases. It had been the same

with the ancient Lou-lan delta, without which the Chinese could

not have opened up the earliest and most direct route for the

expansion of their trade and political influence into Central

Asia. The analogy thus presented could not fail to impress me

even further when I proceeded to examine the ruins of Khara-

khoto, the ` Black Town,' which Colonel Kozloff, the distinguished

Russian explorer, had been the first European to visit during his

expedition of 1908-19049. There remained no doubt for me then