Innermost Asia : vol.2 / Page 467 (Color Image)

0467	Innermost Asia : vol.2

span of what must have been the vaulting of a room over which once rose one of the two large wheels
of the mill measures 21½ feet.

To the east of the small village of Burj-i-Afghān, situated about 3 miles NW. of the Ziārat Ruined
of Bībī-dōst, rise the scattered ruins of large mansions, imposing even in their state of far-advanced mansions of
decay. Several are built on massive foundations of stamped clay and show their defensive purpose Burj-i-
by their plan. The walls of the central hall are in most cases decorated with rows of pointed arches Afghān.
in brickwork. What vaults I examined showed slanting voussoirs of the same type as at Ghāgha-
shahr. But in the ruin represented in Fig. 496 I noticed the same transitional combination of a true
arch with a revetment of bricks set on edge along the curve, as described above in the case of
a structure at Mīl-i-Kāsimābād.¹⁰ The usual size of the bricks here and at the ruins of Kala-i-nau
to be presently noticed is 12″×12″×2″. About a mile to the east of the village lies a small circular
fort, about 210 feet in diameter within, defended by a double enclosure. The inner one, built
of stamped clay and 18 feet thick, still rises to close on 20 feet in height, while the outer one, at 40
feet distance and of far less massive construction, has almost completely been effaced except on
the south. 'Ribbed' potsherds were noticed in plenty, showing mostly such softly rounded ribs
and channels as are seen in B.-i-A. 01, Pl. CXV. Specimens of glazed ware and of fragments
otherwise decorated are described in the List below and illustrated in Pl. CXVII.

The last group of ruins visited lies to the west of the bed of the Rūd-i-Nāseru, the nearest Ruins near
of them some 5 miles to the NW. of Burj-i-Afghān and beyond the well-tilled lands of Bulai village. Bulai
Among scattered dwellings, for the most part badly decayed, evidently owing to moisture, rise two village.
mansions of imposing dimensions. Fig. 484 shows one of these, with its high pointed gateway and the
multiple rows of arched niches decorating the walls of the large halls within. Owing to the moisture
which reaches this area from the spillage of canals, the surface is covered with scrub or else shows
salt-incrustation. Hence very little pottery debris is to be seen among these ruins. Judging from
their general appearance and the absence of vaulting of the Western type, I believe them to date from
approximately the same early Muhammadan period as the rest of the sites visited from Kāsimābād.

In the closely occupied tract of Miān-kangī stretching from the Rūd-i-Pariūn to the Siksar Remains at
river, which marks the Perso-Afghān border, remains of any antiquity above the ground seem Kārku-shāh.
to be confined to the bridge of Takht-i-pul and the ruined mound of Kārku-shāh, both described
by Mr. Tate.¹¹ The remains at the latter are those of a small stronghold built on what obviously
is an isolated clay terrace or Mesa. Most of the ground on the top and slopes is occupied by the
dwellings of a modern village. On the slope along the NW. side of the mound, the line of a much-
decayed wall, built of sun-dried bricks or stamped clay and apparently strengthened by bastions,
survives for over 100 yards. Above this the line of an inner enclosure is traceable for about 26
yards. Within this rises the ruin of what may have been a central keep. Judging from its NE.
wall, which alone shows its full length, 46 feet outside, the whole of this structure was very solidly
built. This wall, 8 feet thick, had a plinth of burned bricks, which now is exposed to a maximum
height of over 5½ feet. These bricks are of the unusually large size of 25½″×16½″×2″. The upper
portion of the wall is built of sun-dried bricks not differing in size from those found in early Muham-
madan ruins ; it still stands to a height of 11–12 feet.

Kārku-shāh in all probability marks the position of Karkūyeh, an important place mentioned Karkūyeh of
by early Arab geographers on the route from Herāt to the capital of Sejistān ; for its distance Arab geo-
from Zaranj, as recorded by Istakhrī, three farsakhs, agrees closely with that from Kārku-shāh graphers.
to Nād-'Alī.¹² But the scanty remains just described afford no indication of the position of the

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

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