Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / 508 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0508	Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1

in the walls indicated their position, the wood itself having perished through exposure. The
remains of massive roof-beams were found lying in the sand above the floor of the north-east
corner room. Both there and in the hall (E. iii.) intermediary free-standing posts had helped to
carry them ².

Excavation
of northern
rooms in
E. iii.
Owing to the large size of the sand-filled rooms in the northern part of the building their
clearing proved a very heavy task, and could, within the limited time available, be accomplished
only by keeping every available hand at work until late into the night on the 24th and 25th
of February. The offer of additional wages and free rations made the men willing to face the
fatigue and the bitter cold of this night labour, while big bonfires kindled with the plentiful
dead tamarisk roots gave the light needed. The rooms proved, as I had expected, to have
been completely cleared of all movable objects. But in the corner room a sitting platform,
3 ft. broad, as well as a large fireplace, were brought to light, while in the hall (E. iii.), open

Chinese and
Tibetan
sgraffiti in
hall E. iii.
towards the south, the rough plaster surface of the partly well-preserved east wall proved to
be covered with sgraffiti both Tibetan and Chinese. The photograph reproduced in Plate XI
shows those to the south of the central pilaster of wood, the scribblings north of it being of
a similar type. M. Chavannes' reading and translation, as given in Appendix A, Part iii. shows
that the Chinese characters nearest to the pilaster contain a mention of 'the imperial envoy Hsin
Li-ch'an', whose identity, unfortunately, has not been established. The other Chinese scrawls
are too rough and effaced to permit of decipherment.

Contents
of Tibetan
sgraffiti.
The Tibetan sgraffiti on this wall are on the whole better preserved than the Chinese
ones, across which they are partly written, and bear the appearance of being later. They
have been deciphered from my photographs and hand-copies by the Rev. Mr. Francke, whose
transcripts and annotated translations will be found in Part iv. of Appendix B. The most
interesting among these scribblings is, undoubtedly, the one which Mr. Francke marks with C,
and which in the photograph reproduced in Plate XI is seen on the top below some coarse
Tibetan and Chinese scrawls. According to Mr. Francke's rendering the main portion of this
sgraffito records : 'At Pyagpag (in the) province of Upper oJom lom this army was outwitted,
and a tiger's meal was obtained (i.e. many were killed).' To this is added, in coarse big letters,
evidently by a different hand : '(Now) eat until you are fat.' Have we here a record of some
victorious Tibetan engagement, perhaps with a Chinese force? The words, especially those
of the postscript, seem to have a strain sufficiently truculent to have been scratched in by
some Tibetan brave who took his share in the fighting. But this does not help us to identify
either the localities named or the event alluded to. The remaining three sgraffiti translated
by Mr. Francke (one of them A, scratched in close to a small but well-drawn sketch of a
charging tiger) seem to be scribblings of a still more casual character, referring to some property
lost, a picture possibly once displayed on the wall, &c.

Purpose of
building
E. iii.
The ruined building, E. iii, was undoubtedly the main structure within the area enclosed
by the ramparts, and, judging from the size of its halls and rooms, and the general arrangement
of its plan, I think it safe to conclude that it had served as the residence of the officer and
establishment, for the protection of whom the fort must be supposed to have been primarily
intended. Somehow the spaciousness of the whole structure suggested resemblance to a Chinese
Ya-mén, but I am unable to judge how far the disposition of the rooms, &c., might be com-
patible with Chinese architectural convention.

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