The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-24

along the desert edge, and the difficulty
of carrying sufficient supplies and water
has luckily kept the native treasure
seekers from visiting and exploiting the
more distant and also more ancient ruin
ed sites which have nowsbeen systemat-
ically explored for the first time under
the auspices Of the Indian government.
No doubt can be entertained continued
the doctor, that the inhabitants of these
places were in possession of a culture
mainly derived from India, and that they
were Buddhists. My excavations go to
prove that their culture was highly adj
yaneed, and that the art influences of
Greece and Rome were felt even at that
great distance from the centers of cias-
steal culture. Khotan is, should say,
about half way between Pekin and West
ern Europe. Possibly the most striking
excavations / made were at site in the
heart of the desert north of Niya where
one settlement was exposed, covering
with its scattered dwelling houses and
shrines an area of about six miles by
four. Until digging began all that was
visible were weird-looking rows Of
bleached timber pieces projecting in va
rious places like the framework of
wrecked ship from between the sand
dunes. Even with all the interesting
work on hand the utter desolation of
The place made itself felt most keenly
during a prolonged stay, and the uh-
canny surroundings especially affected
my people.
"Of special interest were the refuse
heaps which we unearthed near some
ruined houses. once apparently tenanted
by village officials-hnds of waste paper
baskets, containing hundreds of docu-
ments, beautifully written on wooden
tablets, and carefully tied and sealed.
+ mo To Io ~ nF he
sand many Of these were in splendid
ccndition-the ink as black and the seals
and string as perfect as if they were
only a few weeks old. AS these docu-
ments are in a known Indian script,
their deciphering can be expected to re-
veal In fascinating manner many of
the details of the ancient village life.
But it will be, task requiring years
of close study, as in India itself the
materials available of this early script
have so far been very scanty. At sites
less ancient we also found paper docu-
ments in Sanskrit, Chinese and also
Tibetan manuscripts. In none of the ex-
cavations did I find any unknown char
acters. Round most Of the sand buried
houses were brought to light carefully
planned little gardens, with avenues of
trees, fenced lanes, orchards, and so
forth. 1t was truly astonishing, on
clearing away the sand, to find under
the shrivelled hedges heaps of dried
leaves, just as they had fallen in ages
gene by. The gardens were much the
same in character as those still to be
found in Turkestan today. The trees
were mostly poplars and peach, mulber-
ry and apricot trees. There is no evil
dence that these places were abandoned
owing to any sudden catastrophe, but
their gradual desertfon was evidently due
to the impossibility of continued irriga-
ton. causing an advance Of the sand.
while articles of real value we're
therefore removed by their possessors,
we found in the dwelling places many
household implements Of small value,
such as pitchforks, mouse traps, boots,
chairs, shoemakers. lasts, etc. In the
ruined temples we found sort of unin-
territorial exhibition of the fabrics of
these remote ages-for In front of some
of the idols were heaps OF torn shreds
of deliberately worked silks and other
fabrics, which had been deposited as vo-
tive offerings. In one temple 1t was GU
rious to note an instance Of where pill
GRIM anxious apparently to propitiate
as many deities as possible, had torn
into portions Tibetian manuscript,
which he had divided among the various
idols. These fragments were now once
more united under glass panes. Many
colossal statues in Stucco were I'M
earthed from the monasteries and tenn
pies. One of the latter contained in its
cloisters over 100 statues, all over life
size. While as many as possible of these
were cleared for the purpose of taking
photographs, only FEW could be res
cUed, as when the protecting sand was
removed the great stuccoes threatened
to collapse, owing to their inner wooden
work having rotted away. However, in
teresting portions of them were success
fully brought away. As showing how the
customs of today were in vogue in the