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0673 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 673 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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below the Malakand, which is soon to bring fertility to parts
of the Peshawar Valley that have lain more or less waste for
long centuries?
The remains of old settlements which I traced close to
the edge of extant cultivation were too uncertain in date
and character to give definite indications of the former
extent of Kelpin. But information opportunely secured
through 'treasure-seekers' subsequently enabled me to
trace extensive débris areas marking ancient settlements
in the wide belt of absolute desert between the arid outer
hill chain of Kelpin and the lower course of the Kashgar
River. The intense heat and the difficulty of carrying water
at this season—our camels had to be spared all work after
Ak-su and could no longer help us—made exploration very
difficult on this ground. So it was, perhaps, as well to find
that far-advanced wind erosion had left little or no remains
for excavation at the central site to which our guides
brought us after a total march of some forty miles from
Kelpin.
It proved to be that of a fortified station surrounded by
a large 'Tati' with plentiful small débris of hard materials,
coins, and the like. The ample archaeological evidence
gathered here showed that this tract, now wholly abandoned
to drift sand and erosion, had been occupied from Han times
down to the eighth century A.D. by populous settlements.
Canals, still traceable in parts, once carried water to them
from the Kashgar River, now dying away much farther
south. I was also able to ascertain the line of the ancient
Chinese high road to Kashgar, which could still be traced
by a succession of ruined watch-towers.
A curious illustration of the pitfalls which beset the
archaeologist's field-work may find passing mention. The
time of abandonment for this ruined station was so
clearly indicated that I felt greatly puzzled when several
copper and silver pieces of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries were picked up in my presence from the same
ground. The riddle was solved only after my arrival
at the village of Tumshuk on the present high road, when
the aged Karaul-bashi, or commandant of the local police
post, related how about 1876 a rebel force had been routed