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

find place, which is now about 70 yards to the west of the steeply eroded bank of
the flood bed, showed that the foundation of the structure lies 15 feet below the
top of this bank. As the structure was described to me as having stood to a
height of about 10 feet, its top may be assumed to have been buried under 5 feet
of alluvium.

The observation is of some interest as it affords an indication of the approxi-
mate rise of the ground-level which has taken place since Buddhist times in this
riverine belt liable to inundation from the Indus. Stucco sculptures, undoubtedly
Buddhist and of the Gandhāra style, had previously been brought to light in the
vicinity of Rōkhrī by a flood of 1868.¹ These are now in the Lahore Museum.
But the exact spot of this former discovery could not be indicated to me. Close
search made along the present bank of the river branch showed only stratified
alluvial deposits without any potsherds or other old remains, apart from some
much damaged brick walls lining a well, apparently of no great age.

Close to the western edge of the village there extends a large debris area
which in recent years had been extensively dug up for sbōra, or saltpetre, and
manuring earth. It measures about 440 yards along the bank of the river branch
and about 260 yards across where widest. The bank below, about 8–10 feet
high, is everywhere clear of potsherds. This shows that occupation of this
ground did not start until at least this amount of alluvium had been deposited
above the level of the ruined structure just described. The coarseness of such
painted pottery and rare relief-decorated ware as could be found on the mound
points to its late occupation, probably in Muhammadan times. It deserves to be
noted that the width of the belt to the west of Miānwālī liable to inundation
from the Indus is fully 10 miles. This suggests that the position of localities
occupied within or near this fertile kachbī area must have been liable to consider-
able changes during historical times.

On our return to Miānwālī that evening I found a telegram awaiting me from
the Indian Foreign Department informing me that the Persian Government
were now prepared to make arrangements for the escort, &c., to meet us on
our entry into their territory. I had decided long before that this would have
to take place from the port of Gwādur near the south-western extremity of
British Makrān (Map, Sheet 1). The earliest available steamer of the British
India Company, whose mail boats touch that small port only once a fortnight, was
to leave Karachi on January 3rd. The interval would just suffice for the manifold
preparations which the sudden change of programme demanded. The incidence
of the Christmas and New Year holidays, strictly observed by Banks and
Public Offices in India, was bound to add to the difficulty of completing our