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| 0610 |
Ancient Khotan : vol.1 |
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Ya-mén, and on the following morning he turned up in due course with one of the promised
blocks from his own house. The news of his arrest had, of course, long before spread through
the town, and hence it was difficult for him to gain access to the homes of his former
associates, where more of these materials may have been retained.
Whether it was from a right perception that his rôle was now completely played out, or
because he felt that his ignominious collapse in the course of the inquiry had rendered him
ridiculous before his old friends, Islām Ākhūn looked far more cowed in the end, though free,
than when first brought up as a prisoner. I had told him before in jest that I thought him
far too clever a man to be allowed to remain in Khotan among such ignorant people. A curious
incident showed that the remark had not passed unappreciated. Shortly before my departure
Islām Ākhūn presented himself with a petition, evidently meant to be serious, praying that
I would take him along to Europe. It was not clear in what capacity he expected me to
utilize his services. But there could be no doubt that the strange request was prompted
by the hope of finding in distant 'Wilāyat' a wider sphere for his forging abilities! So
I need not regret, perhaps, having shown myself obdurate.
SECTION II.—LAST DAYS IN THE KHOTAN OASIS
Farewell to
Amban
Pan Dārin. On April 28 I left Khotan town, after having on the preceding day paid my farewell visit
to the Ya-mén. It meant good-bye to Pan Dārin, who had proved in every way a true friend,
and to whose help I owed so much in the course of my explorations. He was unmistakably
a man of the old school, not over fond of Western notions and influences. Yet from my first
visit I felt assured that he understood my scientific aims and was ready to further them.
T'ang-séng himself, to whom I had so often referred in our interviews as my patron, and who
evidently still lives as a glorified Arhat or Bodhisattva in the memory of Chinese Buddhists,
could not have favoured my tasks at ancient Kustana more than by placing this learned and
kind old administrator in charge for the time being!
Visit to
Kara-kāsh. I did not wish to leave the oasis without a farewell visit to the site of the ancient capital,
Yōtkan. The march being a short one, I had ample time to collect there samples of soil from
the different strata which contain the ancient remains and from the deposit of riverine loess
that has buried them. I was also able to acquire that day an additional number of ancient coins,
seals, terra-cottas, &c., the owners of which had not come forward on the former occasions.
From Yōtkan I proceeded on April 29 to the canton and town of Kara-kāsh, by the route
which the inset map of the oasis indicates. I had not found a previous opportunity to visit
this important and flourishing centre of the western portion of the oasis, and had now an
additional reason to look it up before my departure. Islām Bēg, my faithful Darōgha of the
days of Karanghu-tāgh and Dandān-Uiliq, had since been appointed one of the Bēgs of Kara-kāsh.
Rightly or wrongly he attributed his good fortune to my recommendation with the Amban.
So he was anxious to show me Kara-kāsh, both as his native place and the present sphere of
his official functions, while I could use the occasion to secure interesting details about local
administration, taxes, &c., from a first-hand authority.
Changes in
cultivated
area. While en route I enjoyed the rare chance of seeing in perfect clearness the great snowy
range to the south which we had surveyed six months before. This distant view, which
seemed to extend to the big glacier-crowned main peaks on the watershed towards the Upper
Kara-kāsh nearly a hundred miles away, was ascribed to recent snowfall in the mountains and
the rain that had cleared away all haze. It was facilitated by the large stretch of open sandy
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724
Copyright (C) 2003-2019
National Institute of Informatics
and
The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.
