Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 195 ページ（カラー画像）

0195	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

occupation of Yār-khoto had continued down to the Uigur period.⁹ That the rooms on either
side of the court and cella had served as monastic quarters was shown by niches in the walls, which
had evidently been used as cupboards, as well as by blackened passages cut into the clay of the outer
walls, at corners suggesting the position of fireplaces. Holes for rafters in the massive clay walls,
still rising to 17 feet and more, showed that there had been at least one upper floor. It was instruc-
tive to note that the enclosing main walls up to a height of 5 feet consisted of the natural clay left
to form a base, while the ground on either side was dug away, and also that the rooms near the
main gate had their floor considerably below the level of the court. This method of providing
basement rooms not needing any masonry by excavation from the hard clay may be observed in
most of the ruined dwellings of Yār-khoto. These basement rooms were obviously resorted to
during the fierce heat of the Turfān summer, just as the 'tai-khānas' are at Peshawar and elsewhere
in the extreme north-west of India, on account of their comparative coolness.

On the flat ground clear of ruins towards the northern extremity of the plateau it was interesting
to note how the bare clay surface had been furrowed into rudimentary Yārdangs from one to two
feet in depth. Their bearing from north-west to south-east showed clearly that wind-erosion was
here due to the violent winds which 'aspiration' carries down into the Turfān depression during the
spring and summer through the gap in the T'ien-shan marked by the Ta-fan-ch'êng saddle on the
road to Urumchi. That this erosion has not proceeded farther is to be attributed to the fact that
the Yārs along the plateau stop the direct access of drift-sand, though, of course, they do not prevent
particles being carried through the air and swept over the plateau surface.¹⁰ The tombs to be seen
on this ground were arranged in small groups, as they are near Astāna, but the approach trenches
to some of them were wider. In one place a small sunk court gave access to the passages leading
to several tomb chambers. All tombs appeared to have been opened long ago and repeatedly
searched. The extensive cemeteries scattered over the Sai to the west of Yār-khoto appeared to
have been similarly treated. A number of small tomb chambers seen exposed along the lower
portion of the cliffs on either side of the western Yār were quite empty.

That portion of the plateau which bears the ruins of the ancient town of Chiao-ho may be
divided into two fairly well defined areas. The northern and larger one, of which Fig. 326 gives
a comprehensive but rather distant view, is closely occupied by the ruins of what manifestly were
for the most part dwellings, often considerable in size. Several clearly recognizable roads pass
between them, the two widest extending along the longitudinal axis of the plateau and connecting
with shorter transverse roads. Near the top end of the western main road rises a very conspicuous
pile of structures marked II in Pl. 35. It comprises a large temple in the centre, and grouped
on its flanks and along the sides of a big rectangular enclosure, measuring about 60 by 80 yards,
a series of minor shrines and halls, as seen in Fig. 331. Within the main temple stands a massive
tower-like brick pile,¹¹ of the type of the tura of Sirkip and the Taizan of Astāna. Some of the
niches arranged in rows on all four faces still retain the seated Buddha images in plaster with which
they were adorned. There can be no doubt that this big Vihāra, which from a distance presents

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