Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 321 ページ（カラー画像）

0321	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

where the river debouches, near which the ruins are situated. These occupy, as the sketch-plan in
Pl. 45 shows, the southernmost offshoot of a spur descending along the right bank of the wide
river-bed where it emerges from the T'ien-shan foot-hills. At the point where this end of the spur
falls off, with a precipitous scarp, towards the river winding at a distance of about 60 yards along
its foot, a number of small caves have been cut into the conglomerate rock. Some eight of these
face the river ; about as many more are found on either side of a small Nullah which cuts into a little
plateau bearing remains of a ruined tower and an adjoining structure marked I.

In most of the little caves the rock walls expose the coarse rubble of which they are composed, Cave-
the original plastering having probably fallen off owing to the roughness and irregularity of the shrines at
surface. It is therefore impossible to make out whether these small cellas, square or rectangular Tesak-
in shape, served as shrines or monastic quarters. Two somewhat larger caves, situated immediately käghe.
below the structure mentioned above, and shown in the plan, Pl. 44, have retained portions of
the plaster covering their walls ; they show traces of badly injured paintings, which, with the
circumambulatory passage in the cave marked iii, conclusively prove that they served for Buddhist
worship. The walls closing the front of these cellas, and dividing them from a narrow apartment
between, were constructed of rough brickwork. These caves, like the rest, showed signs of having
served as shelters at one time or another after worship had ceased there.

The ruined structure, I, had been built on the artificially enlarged top of a small ridge, about Walled
120 feet above the river-bed. The area enclosed by the badly decayed walls of stamped clay and enclosure on
gravel, measures roughly 40 yards by 26. Near the south-western corner, a fragment of the wall ridge top.
still rose to about 9 feet ; elsewhere the enclosure was marked only by low mounds of gravel.
I was told that the whole interior had been dug up in the days of 'Bedaulat's' rule, to obtain
saltpetre from the soil. This suggests that the ruin had been occupied by quarters in ancient times.

The fact that the plateau-like top in which the spur terminates to the south and south-west is Ruined
covered with low scattered grave-mounds, obviously Muhammadan, probably indicates continued township.
local worship at this spot. The very end of the spur to the south-east is occupied by the remains
of a small township, enclosed by badly decayed walls, and defended on the north and west, the only
sides easily accessible, by a well-marked fosse. This measures about 40 feet across at the top, and
has a depth of 10 feet at the north-eastern corner, where it has been cut through the rock.
The wall is built of large stones from the river-bed, and shows a thickness of about 3 feet on
the north side, where its remains are best traceable. Elsewhere, owing to the steepness of the
scarp, along the foot of which the river washes on the south and east, this roughly built wall has
almost completely disappeared. The whole of the interior of the protected area, measuring about
140 yards by 100, is covered with stone heaps, the remains of the rubble-built walls of houses. The
appearance of the whole strikingly recalled that of the Kāfir-kōts on the Indus, and other ruined
town sites near the hills of the Indian North-West Frontier,² though the latter are on a much
larger scale.

After halting for a day at Bai, the district head-quarters, out of regard for the attentive Chinese To Bai
magistrate, I once more left the line of the high road which we had struck there, in order to visit and across
the 'Ming-oi' which I had been informed at Kuchā was situated in the barren hills to the south of Muz-art R.
the Muz-art river. After passing for some 10 miles through well-cultivated ground irrigated from
the Kapsalang river, we crossed to the right bank of the Muz-art-daryā, near the little market-
place of Un-bāsh (Map No. 12. D. 1). It was interesting to observe that though the bed of the river
was fully a mile across, yet the water actually flowing in three small channels showed a total volume
of only about 580 cubic feet per second. This volume seemed very modest compared with that of

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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 『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
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ