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0187 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / Page 187 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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broken utensils, old boots, etc., which had survived in the
refuse practically as fresh as when they were thrown
down there, I can single out only one for special refer-
ence. It was a small closely tied bundle containing
the broken pieces of a feathered arrow with the barbed
bronze arrow-head packed away amongst them. The
most likely explanation was that, in accordance with a
system still in vogue in certain military departments
over-anxious to check petty defalcation, broken arrows
had to be returned 'into store' before new ones could
be issued.

Our rich haul at this station was completed by April
25th, a perfectly clear day, when after long hours of work
in a blazing sun I enjoyed in the evening a glorious vision
of the snowy range far away to the south. What a
vivifying contrast it was to the level expanse of gravel
and salt marsh and the dreary bleakness of the low hills
northward !

On the following morning I moved camp to the large
ruin, some five miles eastwards, which when we first
passed it on the journey to Tun-huang, had struck me by
its palace-like dimensions (Fig. 156). My reconnaissances
had since shown that this huge structure, T. XVIII., with a
much-decayed watch-tower rising on the plateau edge
immediately south of it, lay actually on the line of the
Limes as well as on the old caravan route. An expanse
of lakelets and impassable marsh land, some four miles
long and two across, stretched on its north side and
rendered defence by a wall quite unnecessary. But
neither the familiarity I had gained with the general
plan and arrangements of the Limes nor the close survey
I now made of the imposing ruin could at first give me
any clue as to its true character and purpose.

The building with its enclosing walls presented the im-
posing length of over 550 feet, and at first sight suggested
a barrack or Ya-mén; yet the very proportions were
enough to dispel such a notion. It consisted mainly of
three big halls, each 139 feet long and 48½ feet wide,
which adjoined lengthwise and formed a continuous block
facing due south. Their walls, five and a half feet thick