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0182 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 182 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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645 and 664 A.D. A fitting tribute this to the memory of
the pious traveller ; for I felt quite sure at the time that my
patron saint on his return journey must have passed within
a few yards of the débris-covered hillock.

But what was the reason for this strange survival of
worship at a site which must then for long centuries have
been in ruins? The explanation was not far to seek. A
number of considerations, as already stated, had gradually
led me to the conclusion that the fort and the débris-strewn
mound of T. XIV. marked the position of the 'Jade Gate'
during the first two centuries A.D. When the danger of
raids disappeared with the migration of the Huns west-
wards, and later on Chinese control over the Tarim Basin
was lost for centuries, the whole line of the Limes
west of Tun-huang was abandoned to the wilderness.
But occasional caravans, as we know from Fa-hsien's
travels, still continued to use the desert route, and, no
doubt, wandering herdsmen and hunters still visited the
grazing along the lakes and marshes of the terminal course
of the Su-lo Ho.

So local worship had a chance of proving once more
its tenacity. It clung to the site where those leaving the
'Jade Gate' of the 'Great Wall' for the difficult desert
journey had of old been accustomed to put up ex-votos at
the border shrine and pray for a safe return, just as Chinese
travellers still do at Chia-yü-kuan, the modern equivalent
of the 'Jade Gate.' What more conclusive proof of that
tradition having survived to the present day could I have
wished for than that presented by a small modern shrine
which lay in ruins only a little over a hundred yards to the
west of the hillock explored? The coarsely made clay
images were all broken, perhaps the act of some truculent
Tungans, and the roof and all woodwork had disappeared.
But there was evidence of herdsmen still offering prayers
at the ruin, and my own labourers from superstitious fear
could not be induced to dig even near it. I was not
altogether sorry for this, since the chance of finding any-
thing of interest under the modern ruin seemed remote,
and because this continued veneration was in itself an
interesting archaeological asset.