国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

The first site visited lay in the narrow dune-covered belt of desert which separates the outlying Temple site
tracts of Yawa and Kara-sai in the extreme north-west of the inhabited portion of the Khotan near Kara-
district. I had not seen this area before, and the observations made here, too, of rapidly extending sai.
new cultivation were of interest. Thus the long-stretched oasis of Yawa was found to be a creation
of the last fifteen years only. But the site between it and the southern edge of Kara-sai proved
disappointing (Map No. 20. c. 3). On perfectly sterile soil, between dead tamarisk-cones completely
bared of their fuel, I was shown the spot from which some well-modelled relievo figures in hard
white stucco like K.S. 001 (Plate X) had been brought to me. No structural remains of any kind
survived; but small relievo fragments of similar material could still be picked up in plenty from
the eroded loess soil. There could be no doubt that they were remains of the stucco relievo
decoration of two Buddhist shrines separated from each other by about 160 yards. All structural
remains had been entirely destroyed by wind-erosion; but characteristically enough the reclamation
by canals of the areas within 2 miles or so on either side had brought back subsoil water to this
ground to within 5 feet or so of the surface.

Among the relievo fragments recovered there are a number which are of interest on account Relievo
of their fine modelling and the good preservation of their surface. Of these may be mentioned the fragments in
figures of small standing Buddhas in abhaya-mudrā pose, such as K.S. 001, 007 (Plate X), plaster of
represented in several casts; the excellently designed head and torso of a haloed male figure, Paris.
perhaps a Gandharva, K.S. 005 (Plate X); the representation of what seems worship of the Buddhist
'Triratna', K.S. 0017 (Plate X); and the gracefully executed plaque of a human figure with limbs
transformed into foliage, K.S. 0018+0029 (Plate X). The relievos show close resemblance in style
to corresponding appliqué stuccoes from Dandān-oilik and Khādalik, and like these may have
originally belonged to the decoration of large vesicas, etc., but their workmanship is distinctly
superior. What, however, is specially remarkable in them is their material, a plaster of Paris of
extreme hardness. The peculiar features of this plaster have been noted and discussed in Sir
Arthur Church's analysis of a specimen submitted to him.¹ The explanation he gives of the
exceptional hardness of the Kara-sai plaster is 'that it has been gently burnt after having been
fashioned into form'. He assumes that this burning was intentional, not accidental, and this
assumption seems to be supported by the fact that none of the pieces show discoloration by fire as
so many of the burnt plaster of Paris relievos from Kighillik,² while only in a few (see K.S. 0028,
Plate X) does the surface appear cracked as it always does in the latter. The majority of the
pieces present a surface of remarkable smoothness, which recalls that of ivory or porcelain and
which has so far not been satisfactorily accounted for. A few retain traces of the original
colouring.³

From Kara-sai I took my way eastwards across the Kara-kāsh River in order to explore Visit to new
temple remains which 'Abbās, one of my 'Taklamakānchis', declared that he had discovered in the canton of
belt of high sands separating the twin rivers of Khotan between the central portion of the oasis Bōgar-
and their junction at Koshlash. The route followed enabled me to see parts of the recent canton ming.
of Bōgar-ming (Map No. 20. D. 3)⁴ which my old friend and patron P'an Ta-jên, when in charge of the
Khotan District about 1900–1, had created by bringing a new canal from the river along the
ancient Bahrām-su-üstang. It stretches for fully 10 miles along the left bank of the Kara-kāsh
River, and was said to afford ample land for the two thousand families there settled. As my
intention was to travel to Ak-su and visit P'an Ta-jên, whose help as Tao-t'ai had now proved as