国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

sanas, &c. But the debris filling the corners by the side of the main image base, perhaps that of
a seated Buddha, had protected some relics of interest. From the southern corner were recovered
some fifteen Pōthī leaves inscribed with written or block-printed Hsi-hsia text, besides numerous
small fragments ; several leaves in Chinese print or writing, also in Tibetan, besides a block-print
with small Buddha figures, &c. In the northern corner I found the small well-preserved canvas
painting, K.K. i. ii. 01 (Pl. LXXVII), showing a seated Buddha carefully drawn and painted in a style
suggesting Tibetan influence. The piece had evidently belonged to the border of a larger com-
position and been cut out on purpose, probably to serve as a votive offering. There could be little
doubt that the leaves of manuscripts and block prints found attached together in the other corner
had been originally deposited for the same purpose.

Remains About 70 yards to the south of K.K. i. ii a row of three small Stūpas stood between two badly
of Stūpas. ruined shrines. The Stūpas had all been broken open, and the shrines showed signs of having been
burnt. But in the scanty debris of the one to the west, K.K. i. vii, we found two wooden tablets
inscribed with large Chinese characters. Of the structures, probably shrines, that once probably
occupied the top of two clay-built terraces farther south it was impossible to trace even the outlines.

Ruins in The south-eastern portion of the interior appeared to have been occupied mainly by Sarais
SE. portion
of interior. and the like. Two massive enclosures, whose walls of stamped clay were in one case over 20, in
the other over 10 feet thick, were found empty even of refuse. Close to the east of the second of these
there could be traced, partly covered by heavy accumulations of drift-sand, a large quadrangle
about 50 yards square. There were signs that it had been intended originally to enclose it with
thick walls of clay. But of this enclosure only the northern face, 20 feet thick, was actually found,
while on the other sides only remains of much thinner brick walls survived. Into the western end of
the massive clay wall a small room, K.K. i. viii, had been carved, evidently as a shelter.

A Muham- On clearing away the sand and clay debris that partially filled it, we found a well-preserved
madan relic. Chinese paper document ; and a leaf, K.K. viii. 02. a (Pl. CXXXVII), from a Persian manuscript in
fairly perfect condition. According to the information kindly furnished by the Department of
Oriental Books and MSS. in the British Museum, it treats of the proper times for offering various
Moslem prayers and probably dates from the early fourteenth century.

The find of the Persian MS. leaf was of special interest as a confirmation of what we knew from
other sources of the early spread eastwards of Muhammadanism ; it had already been carried from
Central Asia into China by trade relations as well as by religious zeal, before the Mongol conquests
brought China into direct connexion with Muhammadan countries of inner and western Asia.
The Muhammadan domed tomb outside the south-western corner, which I shall presently describe,
had previously convinced me that Khara-khoto, in the days when its Buddhist shrines were still
being visited by the pious, also received Muhammadans within its walls.

[Here, too, were found the much-decayed pieces, K.K. i. viii. 01. a–d, of what Dr. Laufer has
recognized as a paper-note dated in the Nien-hao Chung-t'ung (A. D. 1260–4), the first regnal
period of the Mongol dynasty. Dr. Laufer believes ' this may lay claim to be the oldest paper-note
now in existence '.]

Sand- Adjoining the clay wall on the southern side, brick walls appeared above the sand, indicating
buried
Sarai. the position of rooms. The sand lay to a height of 6 to 7 feet in the room nearest to K.K. i. viii
and rose still higher farther east. So when the clearing of that room revealed only straw and horse-
dung, I did not proceed farther with a task for which my little band of lazy Mongol diggers was
utterly inadequate. Yet who knows what other relics of mediaeval wayfarers may be concealed
in this ruined Sarai, where the drift-sand heaped against the town wall behind it has protected its
ruins ?