Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / Page 377 (Color Image)

0377	Ancient Khotan : vol.1

Shrivelled trunks of ancient fruit-trees appeared rising from the low sand. Moving on First ruins
northward for less than two miles I soon sighted the first two 'old houses', standing on what sighted.
looked at first sight like small elevated plateaus, but which closer observation proved to be
merely portions of the original loess soil that had escaped the erosion proceeding all round.
These were the ruins to be described below as N. III. and N. IV.¹⁴ A rapid inspection showed
me that the mode of construction in these buildings was substantially the same as that in the
dwellings of Dandān-Uiliq, but their dimensions were larger and the timber framework far
more elaborate and solid. The conclusion that I instinctively drew as to the far greater anti-
quity of these remains was confirmed almost immediately when, in one of the outer rooms of
the ruin N. III., where the sand lay only about half a foot deep, I came upon some finely-carved
pieces of wood lying practically on the surface, which showed ornamentation unmistakably of
the Gandhāra style. I subsequently identified them as parts of the ancient chair seen in
Plate LXVIII. Marching about two miles further north, across broad swelling dunes, I arrived
at the ruined structure of sun-dried bricks of which Abdullah had already spoken at Keriya
as a 'Potai'. It proved, as I had expected, to be the remains of a small Stūpa, buried for
the most part under the slope of a high conical sandhill.

Here, in a position conveniently central for the exploration of the scattered ruins (see Effects of
Plate XXVII), I pitched my camp. The ground in the immediate vicinity showed all the erosion near
characteristic traces of excessive erosion. Broad patches of bare loess displayed in profusion Stūpa camp.
pieces of broken pottery, bleached and twisted trunks of fallen poplars and other garden trees,
as well as much decayed remains of ancient timber that splintered and broke almost as soon
as lifted. Of the buildings to which this timber débris had belonged it was impossible to trace
even the roughest outlines. A few small loess-banks, regular 'witnesses', with almost vertical
wind-eroded sites, which rose a short distance to the west of the Stūpa, 12–15 feet above the
level of the débris-covered area, showed plainly how far the present surface of the latter had
been reduced below the ancient ground-level. Numerous fragments of stone, evidently the
remains of larger pieces that must have once been brought from far away for use in the houses,
bore even more impressive evidence to the destructive force of the desert winds and of the
extremes of climate. But as I retired to my first night's rest among these silent witnesses
of ancient habitations my main thought was how many of the precious documents on wood,
which Ibrāhim declared he had left behind at the ruin 'explored' by him a year before, were
still waiting to be recovered.

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

Citation Information

OCR Text

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