National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Tāhirī. But we had scarcely covered more than 6 miles from 'Asalū to where
the foot of the very steep and rugged coastal range recedes and leaves room for
terraces rising close above the present beach when we came upon plentiful
pottery debris, marking former occupation. On these terraces, divided by
ravines and suggesting an earlier shore line, remains of rubble-built walls from
decayed dwellings were to be seen for some 250 yards. At the western edge
of this area, known by the name of Ḥaivanāt, a ruined wall built with large rough
blocks of stone runs for about 80 yards down to the shore. It looked as if
meant for a chiusa blocking the track.

From a much-decayed oblong cistern situated about 2 miles farther on there
extends a wide alluvial fan covered with abundant scrub and known by the name
of Chāh-kaur. For a distance of more than a mile indications of former occupation
could clearly be traced. First, over some 500 yards there extend rubble-built
walls of ruined dwellings. Between them we found the debris of ancient pottery
of a peculiar type, mostly of dark-red colour, often ribbed and always very thick
and hard. Then, farther on, the place of these ruins is taken by what evidently
were terraced fields divided by similar walls, also much decayed. Potsherds of
the same type could be found here, too, in places, and with them also a few frag-
ments of plain glazed green ware. A small Muhammadan cemetery found beyond
a small ravine intersecting the terraced fields was marked by decayed stone
heaps and looked coeval. The width of this area of old cultivation where we
left it and descended to the track leading along the beach was close on half a mile.

About 1½ miles ahead, plentiful pottery debris of the same type marked
another small area of habitations. Thence terraced fields divided by old walls
of large stones were found to stretch continuously for a mile or so, along what
could clearly be recognized as an earlier shore line, rising some 25–30 feet above
the present beach. Not far beyond the northern end of this once-cultivated
stretch of ground we came upon the first of a series of ancient kilns, where
broken pottery of the above-described type lay in abundance. The position close
by the shore of a small bay must have been very convenient for shipping this
ware. Near by, at the side of a ravine, two ruined cisterns of oblong shape were
to be seen, one measuring 12 feet across, both of which had at one time been
covered by vaulting.

It was the same also at a group of other old kilns met about 1½ miles
farther on. There, too, sherds of the same dark-red fabric, very strong and
mostly showing the characteristic ribbing (for specimens see Chāh-kaur, 7–9,
Pl. XXVI), lay strewn right down to the beach. There was plenty of this ware
to be found among the ruins of Sīrāf. No doubt it was the chief local product
which this poor strip of coast could ever have supplied to the great medieval
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