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

which seemed to agree in a truly striking fashion with Hsüan-tsang's description
of that site. After my renewed examination of the site, I feel it the more
necessary to give a brief description of the position of Mūrti and of the sculp-
tural remains recovered there, since the result of the investigations carried out
between the 27th of May and the 3rd of June 1890 has, through my own fault I
admit, remained so far without being suitably published. The heavy burden of
official work at Lahore and the absorption of my very scanty leisure in other
branches of research may perhaps explain, if it cannot excuse, the omission.

The small stream, which the springs of the sacred pool of Ketās help to feed,
flows down eastwards to Chōa Saidān Shāh in a narrow stony bed for about 2½
miles. At the previously mentioned bridge it takes a sharp turn to the south and
after half a mile, passing the *rauḍa* of Saidān Shāh, enters the Gamdhāla valley,
which descends in a south-westerly direction to the plain (see Skeleton Map 1).
The valley is lined on both sides by picturesque hills. Those to the north rise
in a succession of bold cliffs of sandstone to heights of about 3,000 feet above
sea-level, while those to the south are somewhat lower and show more gentle
slopes. The whole of the valley is now a Government Reserved Forest and,
owing to the protection thus afforded, is covered with ample vegetation, the
area being probably more productive of wood and grass than any other in the
Salt Range. 'The whole forms, perhaps, the best example of hill scenery that
the district contains.'¹¹ At the bottom of the valley winds the limpid Ketās
stream, forming a succession of small pools. At a distance of about 2½ miles
below the *ziārat* of Saidān Shāh the stream makes a sharp bend round the foot
of a hillock of sandstone. There it expands into two large pools of considerable
depth (Fig. 15). Both pools are surrounded by luxuriant tree-growth and
swarm with fish. On leaving them the rushing stream forces its way through
the great boulders which line the northern foot of the hillock, its noise being
clearly audible from the top.

The solid sandstone rock forming the core of the hillock is exposed on the
east to a height of about 20 feet above the upper pool (Fig. 18). Farther up, the
slopes are covered to the top with large stones and detritus. This forms a small
plateau at a height of about 70 feet above the water of the pool, but much less
from the level of the flat ground which adjoins the southern and western foot of
the hillock (Fig. 14). The plateau, stretching approximately from east to west,
measures about 75 yards in length and some 63 yards across where widest. Near
its south-western end there rises a conical mound, measuring about 20 yards
across at its foot, to a height of some 18 feet above the level of the plateau
(Fig. 16). It is composed of rough blocks of sandstone and rests partly on a