National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 |
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OCR Text
After a ten miles' march over bare gravel and sand Siligh
Langar was reached, a collection of wretched mud-hovels,
with a little tank fed by a small watercourse. The tank was
full and the water flowed away into the sand. Beyond Siligh
Langar scanty scrub and 'Kumush' appeared again and
covered the sandy soil up to Hajib Langar, another uninviting
wayside station two and a half miles beyond. Then the ground
began to show pebble-strewn beds of shallow ravines, and in
a long dark line the trees of the oasis of Guma appeared on
the horizon. It was a dreary ride of some six miles before
we struck the river-bed, then dry, that marks the western edge
of the lands of Guma. Beyond it I passed scattered fields
and groves half-buried under drifting sand that seems to
advance from the west, and at last, after riding up a steep
bank, some 30 to 40 feet high, I was once more amidst
fertile gardens and fields. Close to a large canal that skirts
the Bazar of Guma I discovered a camping-ground just as I
wanted it, in a quiet garden enclosed by a hedge of high
willows and poplars. While my tent was being pitched I
rode off again towards the Bazar, where the weekly market
was still in full swing. The large crowds buying and selling
cattle, fruit, cotton stuffs, and other local produce were an
indication of the extent of the oasis. Over rows of stalls
high boots of red leather were hanging, an article evidently
in great demand owing to the approach of winter.
The 5th of October was given up to a halt needed for
antiquarian inquiries. Among the purchases of Central-Asian
antiquities made for the Indian Government by Mr. Macartney
and other political officers, paper manuscripts and "block-
prints" in "unknown characters" had since 1895 become
more and more frequent. These and similar acquisitions,
which had reached Russian and other public collections in
Europe, were all supposed to have been unearthed from sand-
buried sites in the Khotan region. Islam Akhun, the Khotan
"treasure-seeker" from whom most of these strange texts
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552
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563
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573
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