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

steep slope to the north in a less well-preserved condition. From the point
marked with the height of 324 feet its eastward continuation was subsequently
traced by the Surveyor up to a point where it ends on the edge of a very pre-
cipitous rock face overlooking the Tīz valley. Similarly he was able to trace the
connexion of this wall line southward from the ravine to where near the 320 feet
mark it abuts on the previously noted defensive line near the coast. As the
parapet of the wall passed in the ravine faces east it is clear that this wall
represents a secondary fortified line intended, perhaps, to reduce the total length
of the defences to be watched and manned.

That these lines of wall were meant to ward off an attack on Tīz from the
side of Chāhbār is evident from their position. It is equally certain that so
extensive a system of defence could not have been planned without a com-
paratively large population such as would be needed to construct and man it.
That this was available in Tīz at a certain medieval period is proved by the
extent of the ground over which the remains to be described presently were
traced. No local tradition exists as to the construction of these fortifications.
Nor could I learn anything about the Tīz valley having been protected in other
directions by similar defences. The very narrow entrance to it from the sea-
shore (Fig. 25) provided adequate protection on that side, and the very broken
nature of the hills both to the north and east may have rendered attack from
those directions unlikely.

The track to Tīz, beyond the point where the wall in the ravine is passed, runs
for about a mile along a rocky plateau. From here much-decayed remains of
stone-built dwellings could be sighted on the top of the precipitous headland
marked as Tīz Point on the map. From the edge of the plateau the track descends
along steep cliffs into the bottom of the Tīz valley, where our camp was pitched
near a tiny plantation with a couple of Banyan trees. Tīz boasts of a few more
small clumps of trees and a limited amount of scrub. It also has some wells
of fairly good water in the torrent bed which descends from the east. No
wonder that to the traveller along this desolate coast as well as to the few
officials and traders exiled to Chāhbār the small village of Tīz presents itself as
a veritable oasis.

The valley of Tīz debouches towards the sea through a short narrow defile
which, where it adjoins the shore of the bay, measures only some 120 yards
across. Above this defile there rises on the south a small hill with steep slopes
which completely commands both the foreshore and the defile (Fig. 25).
Together with the precipitous head of the rugged hill chain, enclosing the
valley on the north and rising to about 300 feet, it effectively guards the approach
to the valley from the side of the sea. The hill to the south now bears a