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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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or fruit-trees could be traced almost invariably near these
houses (Fig. 45). Where dunes had afforded protection, the
gaunt, bleached trunks in these orchards, chiefly mulberry
trees, still rose as high as ten to twelve feet.
But what at first fascinated me most was the absolute
barrenness and the wide vistas of the desert around me.
The ruins at this end of the site lie beyond the zone of living
tamarisk scrub. Like the open sea, the expanse of yellow
dunes lay before me, with nothing to break their wavy
monotony but the bleached trunks of trees or rows of
splintered posts marking houses which rose here and there
above the sandy crests. They often curiously suggested the
picture of a wreck reduced to the mere ribs of its timber.
There was the fresh breeze, too, and the great silence of
the ocean.
I must forgo any attempt at detailed description of the
results here yielded by a fortnight of exacting but fruitful
work. Yet a particularly rich haul of ancient documents may
claim mention were it only on account of the characteristic
conditions under which it was discovered. I was clearing a
large residence (Fig. 48) in a group of ruins on the extreme
west of the site. It had on my previous visit been traced too
late for complete exploration, and I had ever since kept it,
as it were, faithfully in petto. Fine pieces of architectural
wood carving brought to light near a large central hall soon
proved that the dwelling must have been that of a well-to-
do person. Finds of Kharoshthi records of respectable size,
including a wooden tablet fully three feet long, in what
appeared to have been an ante-room, suggested his having
been an official of some consequence.
The hope of finding more in his office was soon justified
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