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| 0377 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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showed plainly that the art of fortification, as seen in the
extant towns of this region, had practically remained
unchanged since T'ang times or probably even an earlier
period. But, as a peculiar feature possibly accounted for by
local conditions, it deserves to be mentioned that the town
possessed two walls facing east, the inner built at a distance
of about 200 yards from the outer. The latter had to
bear the full force of erosion and was traceable only as a
line of badly decayed segments. The inner had suffered
many breaches, but its massive foundations were still con-
tinuous and the bastions and gate recognizable. Is it
possible that the inner east wall was raised for protec-
tion when the outer had been reduced by the relentless
wind to a condition beyond hope of repair or defence?
The shrinkage in population which must have long pre-
ceded abandonment might also have recommended this
expedient.
However this may be, there was evidence that deso-
lation had come over this little town, not at once, but
as a slow, lingering death. On the top of the débris
mounds emerging above the drift sand I found remains of
poorly built dwellings manifestly of later date, and state-
ments of villagers, whom curiosity drew out from the
hamlets of Ch'iao-tzŭ to watch my proceedings, indicated
that some of these had been temporarily tenanted even
within memory of man. Herdsmen grazing their ponies
on the marshy steppe northward used to seek shelter there
against the icy blasts of the winter. Even at the present
day the ruined town saw temporary residents in the shape
of people coming to collect saltpetre from the soil once
occupied by buildings. In more than one place at the foot
of the west wall I saw the little smoke-begrimed caves
which these humble folk had dug out for quarters.
In front of the largest there rose, on what was plainly
a worked-out rubbish heap, a tiny mud shrine such as I
had often seen near detached farms or even by the side of
fields in the oases. Sticks of pine wood, commonly burned
for incense, lay on the miniature altar, evidence that this
modest sanctuary still saw worship. But, luckily, no reli-
gious scruples had prevented Kao Ta-lao-ye, our active
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