Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / Page 147 (Color Image)

0147	Ancient Khotan : vol.1

described presently. This negative fact is quite compatible with the opinion that the oasis of
Gūma has been under cultivation from early times. The observations to be detailed below
regarding the Khotan oasis, prove beyond all doubt that an area constantly irrigated for centuries
is, under the physical conditions prevailing between the foot of the Kun-lun range and the
Taklamakān, bound to be covered by a steadily rising deposit formed of silt and loess dust ¹⁵.
All ancient remains are so effectively hidden by the rapid growth of this overlying deposit that,
as the fate of the culture-strata of Yōtkan convincingly demonstrates, nothing but the formation
of deep ravines in the soil, or else long-continued subsequent denudation through the erosive
action of the wind, can ever reveal their existence.

I did not see any indication of either of these two agencies being at work now within the Early occu-
cultivated area of Gūma, while all round its northern outskirts the accumulation of drifting pation of
'sand' ¹⁶ is actively proceeding. Hence I hold that the absence of any archaeological finds Gūma.
within or on the outskirts of the oasis is no evidence against ancient occupation.

Gūma, together with Mokuila and Moji, must be assumed to have formed part of the The Pi-shan
'kingdom' of Pi-shan (Pe-shan) 皮山, which the 'Notice of the Western Regions' in the Han of Chinese
Annals places half-way between Khotan and Yarkand (So-ch'ê), at 380 li distance from either ¹⁷. Annals.
The population was reckoned at 3,500 persons, showing that the territory was a small one. The
statement made in the Notice that India adjoins it to the south, is a manifest reference to the
Karakorum route, which is reached by going due south via Kilian or Sanju. The T'ang Annals
speak of Pi-shan as a small territory absorbed by the Khotan kingdom ¹⁸.

The inquiries made on my behalf among the people of Gūma for antiques produced no result,
notwithstanding the offer of liberal reward for any acceptable article and the manifest empressement
shown by the local authorities to facilitate acquisitions. The small octagonal bronze seal (G. 001),
apparently of Chinese make (Plate L), which was sold to me at Karghalik as having been found
near Gūma, is of uncertain date and origin, and could in no case be relied upon as evidence, since
it had passed through the Bāzār channel.

SECTION III.—THE TATI OF KAKSHAL

The morning of the 6th of October saw me on my way towards Moji, the next caravan Débris area
stage, filled with keen expectation as to the remains of 'kōne-shahrs' which, according to my near
Gūma informants, were to be seen en route. After we had emerged from the shady lanes of Mokuila.
the southern part of the Gūma oasis, and had crossed a stretch of stony Dasht about three miles
broad, I came upon the first of these on the right bank of the wide river-bed, now entirely dry,
which the day before I had followed lower down to Karatāgh-aghzi. For a considerable distance
along the right bank, which, where crossed by the road rises some twenty feet above the sandy
bottom of the flood-water channel, the ground was thickly strewn with small fragments of coarse
red pottery. No ornamented pieces could be found, but the exceptional hardness and occasional
fine grain of these potsherds showed that they belonged to a remote period. The width of the
area over which these scattered fragments could be traced was not great, as it extended only
for about a third of a mile from the river-bank to where the soft sandy soil, unmistakably

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books