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0654	Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2

0654

Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2

中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2

wastes by its side. My satisfaction was great when I
found its top occupied by the ruins of a small and relatively
well preserved fort (Fig. 297). This had clearly been built
to guard the route leading by the river. Half-way up on
the steep scarp overlooking the river a collection of staffs
with votive rags marked the supposed resting-place of
a saint, from which the hill takes its present name. The
whole made up a striking picture of desert scenery, the
death-like torpor of the red rocks and yellow sands being
heightened by the heat and glare which brooded over all.
The little fort, looking down from its precipitous height
like a true robbers' stronghold, had been burnt out long
ago ; yet its siege, or rather that of its rubbish heaps, kept
us busy for three long and hot days. Tibetan records on
wood and paper cropped up with miscellaneous relics when
we cleared out the few still traceable halls and quarters
inside. But their yield was trifling compared with that of
the masses of refuse thrown down by the occupants in the
course of long years on to the steep rock slopes below the
east face (Fig. 298). The conditions had been exception-
ally favourable for their preservation. Not a particle of
moisture could rise from the river below to the height of
this barren sandstone ridge which was clear of any trace of
the humblest vegetation. An outlying and somewhat lower
ridge kept off dunes and prevented erosion by driving
sand.
It seemed like another Miran, with all the unspeakable
dirt which these old Tibetans seem to have accumulated
wherever they held posts, and with all its peculiar con-
comitant odours still fresh in my recollection. Buried in
the thick refuse layers lay Tibetan tablets and papers by
the hundreds, along with documents in Chinese and Brahmi
script, and rarer pieces in Uigur and some unknown writing.
The Tibetan records greatly predominated, pointing, as in
the case of Miran, to the period of Tibetan invasions during
the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. As far as yet examined
by my learned collaborator, Dr. A. H. Francke, they seem
to contain military reports, requisitions, and the like.
The dating has been fully confirmed by finds of coins
and the Chinese documents. Among the latter some large

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