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| 0210 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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CHAPTER LXIII
RECORDS FROM AN ANCIENT WATCH-STATION
Fascinating as it was to survey the ground along this
most desolate of borders, and to study the actual remains
of wall, towers, quarters, and arms, I found that it needed
written records to restore a picture of the life once led here
and of the organization which had planted this life in the
desert. Chance could not have illustrated this better than
by letting me light, at a post so modest in its extant
structures, upon an abundance of wooden records thrown
out from the commandant's office half a century before the
birth of Christ. The fact that they all belong to practically
the same period, and come from a station which lay off
the main route and could not claim special importance,
makes them all the more useful as typical evidence of the
military administration then prevailing among the troops
echeloned along the border. To M. Chavannes' critical
acumen and unsurpassed powers of scholarly work I am
indebted for full translations and notes of all documents
found along the Limes that are still decipherable. Availing
myself of the fruits of his labours I propose to give a
brief summary of the chief topics of antiquarian interest
which the records of this station illustrate, and to supple-
ment them where desirable by general information gleaned
from the rest of the documents.
From the first I had felt justified by Chiang's first
rapid examination to hope that the records recovered
would give us details as to the strength, distribution, and
life of the troops guarding the border; their commissariat,
equipment, and the like. This hope has been fully
realized. In the introduction to his forthcoming volume
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