Innermost Asia : vol.1 / 387 ページ（カラー画像）

0387	Innermost Asia : vol.1
極奥アジア : vol.1

sides. The paring down of the sides of what must have been the foundation of a square tower or
watch-post was due to exactly the same cause as had brought about the complete breaching and
final disappearance of the walls of the L.A. enclosure where they faced the prevailing wind direction,
while those lying parallel to it could still be traced over considerable stretches.¹²

The dimension of about twenty feet and a half that the extant fascine layer still preserved in Evidence of
the longitudinal direction corresponds exactly to the measurement which the square watch-towers occupation
of the Tun-huang Limes most frequently show at their base.¹³ The use of tamarisk brushwood for tower.
the fascines similarly agrees with the evidence afforded by the wall and towers of the Limes that
the old Chinese engineers readily adopted for their constructive work whatever material the adjoin-
ing ground then offered and usually still provides.¹⁴ There were accordingly strong grounds for
inferring that this tower at L.J. was of Chinese origin and of a period approximately contemporary
with the Limes. That it had been tenanted as a look-out post, just like the towers of the Limes,
was proved by the small heap of miscellaneous refuse I found half-hidden under fallen clay about
four or five feet below the foot of the south-east corner of the surviving fascine layer. In this
refuse were burnt pieces of tamarisk wood ; a mass of fragments of rush matting, L.J. 02 (Pl. XXVI) ;
a small heap of reed-straw ; remains of a grass, L.J. 09, which Tokhta Ākhūn declared to be
yiken, such as grows along the shores of rivers and lagoons,¹⁵ and plentiful chips of Toghrak wood.
Fragments of rough pottery, L.J. 04–6, were picked up lower down on the slope.

However insignificant these finds were, and however modest the remains of the tower itself, Guidance
their discovery on the Mesa L.J. afforded important guidance, and justified my feeling elation. from
The position of the ruined watch-post on the plane-table fell exactly into the same line to the north- of L.J.
east as all the sites we had traced from L.A. to the castrum L.E. and beyond. This appeared
a sufficient indication that the ancient Chinese route had passed here, and that I should have to
look for its immediate continuation in the same direction. It is true, this bearing was leading us
away from the great valley-like depression between Bēsh-toghrak and Kum-kuduk, with its wells
and grazing, through which passes the present caravan track from Lop to Tun-huang, and where
alone water could be hoped for. These natural advantages must have imposed its use likewise
for the ancient Lou-lan route. At first therefore it might seem somewhat disconcerting deliberately
to turn away from the direction which would bring us to that track.

But from what the march of February, 1907, had shown me of the great salt-encrusted Lop Physical
sea-bed, and from the graphic description of Professor Elsworth Huntington, who a little more obstacles
than a year before had pluckily crossed it from Kōshe-langza to Āltmish-bulak,¹⁶ I knew that the ahead.
vast expanse of hard salt crust offered most serious physical obstacles to a route leading straight
across to the south-east from ancient Lou-lan. I also remembered what previous explorations
had taught me of the remarkable skill with which Chinese enterprise always adapted itself to
essential topographical features and thus economized effort and avoided needless risks.¹⁷ By
continuing farther to the north-east and thus drawing nearer to the foot of the Kuruk-tāgh the Reasons for
Chinese pioneers of the ancient 'route of the centre' were able to reduce the extent of the most continuing
difficult portion of the ground, that presented by the dry sea-bed with its corrugated surface of hard to NE.
salt. At the cost of a detour they could thus avoid much hardship and escape the necessity of con-
fronting physical obstacles which, added to all the other difficulties of the desert, must then as now

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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

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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
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