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0232 Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 / Page 232 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000234
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ON THE ROAD TO KHOTAN

On the morning of the 2nd of October my caravan wended
its way through the busy little town towards the East gate,
from whence the road to Khotan starts. On my way I visited
a large Madrasah called after the Ghujak Masjid, opening on
one of the principal Bazars. It comprises a large quadrangle
with rows of vaulted rooms for about 150 students, and at its
west end an open hall of imposing dimensions. The wooden
pillars supporting the roof as well as the roof itself are
painted in lively colours, chiefly shades of red, suggesting the
polychrome splendour of some classical building.

Chang-Darin had sent his principal 'Tungchi' or interpreter
to accompany me on my start and bring me his farewell good
wishes. Within a mile of the Khotan gate where I parted
from the good-looking old man the caravan road emerges on
barren desert. A few miles further on this gave way to
narrow strips of cultivation forming the little oasis of Besh-
arik, but this was soon traversed, and beyond there received
us an unmitigated wilderness of gravelly Dasht. The road is
marked all along by wooden posts erected at short intervals—
no useless precaution considering how easy it would be for
the traveller to lose his way at night or in a sandstorm.
At Kosh Langar, where the day's march ended, I was sur-
prised to find in the midst of the barren waste a commodious
Sarai built of hard-burned bricks, with vaulted rooms and
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