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0223 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 223 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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CHAPTER LXIV

RETURN TO THE 'THOUSAND BUDDHAS'

I HAD scarcely returned to the shelter of Tun-huang from
the fascinations and trials of the ancient desert border
when my eyes began to turn eagerly towards the cave
temples of the 'Thousand Buddhas' at the foot of the
barren dune-covered hills to the south-east. It was the
thought of their sculptures and frescoes which had first
drawn me to this region. But since my visit to the site in
March, and the information then gathered about the great
collection of ancient manuscripts discovered in one of the
temples, the antiquarian attraction of the sacred caves had,
of course, vastly increased. Eager as I was to commence
operations at once, I had to contain myself in patience.

Just after my return to Tun-huang the annual pilgrimage
to the shrines commenced, and it did not need the polite
hints of my Amban friends to convince me that this was
not the best time for a move to the site. The great fête,
a sort of religious fair, was said to have drawn thither fully
ten thousand of the pious Tun-huang people, and from the
endless string of carts I saw a few days later returning
laden with peasants and their gaily decked women-folk,
this estimate of the popular concourse seemed scarcely
exaggerated. I knew enough of Indian Tirthas to realize
that such an occasion was better for studying modern
humanity than for searching out things of the past.

So my start had to be postponed for five days. I
found plenty to keep me busy in the meantime, what with
adjusting accounts in that excruciatingly primitive currency
of uncoined, and often far from pure, silver; with repairs
to be effected in tents and kit, which those last weeks in

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