National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

L.K. i. 02. Fr. of bronze plate. ⅜" sq.

L.K. i. 03. Glass bead, blue, opaque, ring-shaped. Diam.
1⁄16", h. 1⁄8".

L.K. i. 01. Fr. of hemp (?) rope, knotted into loop ;
two-ply. Well made. Length 8½", thickness ⅝".

L.K. i. 02. Pestle, hard green-black stone (basalt ?), roughly
ellipsoidal, rough at one end. Length 2⅝", diam. 1⅜".

L.K. i. 03. Wooden double-bracket capital in one
piece consisting of four members : centre rectangular
block which rested on shaft, two brackets and an abacus.
Centre block plain, projecting ¼" from face of brackets ;
under-surface, 11"×7½", containing socket for shaft 3"
diam. and 2⅜" deep.

Brackets are simple scrolls falling to level of bottom
of block ; their lower inner edges spring from bottom
corners of block, rise at about 45° and then scroll over to
eye. Their outer line drops nearly vertically but slightly
outward from below corners of abacus and then scrolls under
to join inner edges. Top and inner borders join abacus
and block respectively. Eye, which is too large and cuts
into scroll, is treated as a sunk, flattened cone, apex out-
wards. Edges of brackets slightly chamfered.

Abacus consists of two bands each 1" wide. The upper
a plain fillet ; the lower, 'weathered', that is, sloped
slightly back from its lower edge to its junction with under-
surface of upper fillet, is divided into eight oblong flat
billets on the front face. These are separated from each
other by vertical prism or keel ornament, ⅜" wide, formed
by r. and l. sloping chisel cuts.

Corner billet is carried round to end face, on which are
three billets, including the corner ones. On each end face
below centre billet is a small, slightly raised, square label
imitating, but without the functional reason, the raised
support on pulvinatus of L.M. i. iii. 01.

Front and back of double bracket are alike, but one
side much split and weathered, while the other is perfect.

In centre of upper surface, which is flat, is mortice
2½"×⅞"×1⅜" deep. Wood hard. Length 2' 9½", height
10½", thickness 7½". Pl. XV.

L.K. ii. 01. Fr. of bronze plate, oblong, curved, with
small hole drilled at one corner. 1⅜"×1".

L.K. ii. 02. Glass bead, greenish-blue, semi-transparent,
long, tubular. Length 1⅜", diam. 1⁄4". Pl. XXIV.

L.K. iv. 01. Fr. of pottery ; coarse, red, ill-washed, grey
on surface ; showing part of large incised pattern of
circles, bands and chevrons orn. with incised lines and
dashes. 4½"×3½"×5⁄16". Pl. XXV, XXVI.

L.K. iv. 02. Handle of wooden agricultural (?)
implement. Slightly curved horizontally and thickened
at one end. To narrow end is attached an iron tang with
two rivet holes ; one rivet in position with square washer
on upper surface of handle. Perished and split. Length
10½", diam. 1⅜". Pl. XXIX.

L.K. v. 01. Fr. of felt, yellow, with band of sewing in
white and brown. 5"×2½".

L.K. v. 02. Frs. of felt, fine, whitish. Gr. length 5".

L.K. v. 03-4. Two goose (?) feathers, broken, brown.
Length 6".

Section III.—THE SITES OF L.L. AND L.M.

March to
ruin L.L. On February 7th I proceeded to the small ruined fort that Tokhta Ākhūn had reported,
and reached it after a march of nearly three miles almost due west of L.K. The ground that we
crossed was throughout bare clay sculptured into Yārdangs by wind-erosion. But the depth of
their trenches decreased as the fort L.L. was approached, and in its immediate vicinity did not
exceed 5 to 6 feet. There, too, the patches overrun by light drift-sand were more extensive. To
the south of our route the line of the ancient river-bed, previously noted near L.K., could be clearly
traced by the rows of dead Toghraks along its banks ; its direction lay approximately to the north-
west. Some worked stones, including a small jade celt, L.K.-L.L. 01, were picked up on the way
and indicated that the area of prehistoric occupation so noticeable near L.K. extended also
westwards.

Circum-
vallation
of L.L. The ruin L.L. proved to be closely akin to L.K. in constructive features, but considerably
smaller and less well preserved. Its circumvallation, roughly built of stamped clay with intervening
layers of tamarisk branches, formed an oblong of which the two shorter sides, about 138 feet in
length, had the bearing ENE. to WSW., thus lying in the direction of the prevailing winds. The
two other sides of the oblong showed a length of approximately 218 feet. The rampart, best
preserved on the shorter side approximately facing north, showed a thickness of about 26 feet on
the ground level and seven successive clay layers each about 16 inches thick. The courses of
tamarisk branches and brushwood dividing them had a thickness of about 6 inches.

The east face, which probably had contained the gate, as suggested by a prostrate heavy post,