Evening star., 1907-11-11
Line Of Ancient Forts.

1T5GgF5 phlcally DT. Stein FOUND tha- rge
country traversed offered an .nt@nsely
Interesting field foT study. HIS OWL. Oh
servajioHs have Dcea supplemented By
surveys Of Raj Ram Singh. the native sur
yeyor attached 10 the expedition ~ tie
[adtsD surrey department. and. among
other results, IL has been discovered that
the khara Nora large lake already
knowE to receive two COZ siderable rivers
from the south md east-cac arges its
v'aters westward during tha spring and
ariy summer BY riy>r wn.ch after
ara ming soma smaller LIKES and rlars'.es
generates the desert for d.stGacs o.
nearly sixty miles Put the main o1t"c-
d the expedition is archaeological re-
starch and DIR. Stein was delighted when
It point whore he rad still to look for
lvard to five long MARCHES to the oasis o.
Srt,- chou he cam the first Of
series of ruined watch towers forming a
cha m of frontier posts conn 2ctad by an
ancient wall. After recuperating at Sha-
rhou. the expedition traced this Inc o.
t-ontiar defepsa works for distance Of
10 miles. and DR.. Stein is Convinced. as
tn result Of his examination of the Chi
nese records found among the ruins. an
ex animation In which he was a.6ed ty i
scholarly Chinese assistant. that IN"
work in question dates back as far as the
nd of the second century 3. c. Garrisons
must have occupied the stations for some
thing like $50 years and documents relat-
Ing to the first quarter Of the second CEN
Jury A. D. were found to be specially
numerous.
Rare Chinese Documents.
Altogether something like 1000 Chinese
decum cnts were unsarthed, mostly relat-
ing to military matters. but also comprfs-
ing a number Of private letters, whose
personal details give vivid human in
tarest to these -ecords Of distant past.
In addition. DR.. Stein discovered abun-
dant evidences Of the traffic that even
then passed overland between India land
possibly even PERSIA on the west and
the Chinese empire on the east by way
Of this remote corner OF central Asia.
The excellent state OF preservation In
which all the remains were found af-
fords conclusive proof of the scanty rain
fall In the region trave "sed by the line OF
frontier posts, not only at the present
day. but for the past 1900 years. Some
t mes the records were burisd under the
thinnest covering of soil. yet even tha
most perishable articles had preserved a
perfectly fresh appearance.
Cave Temples Found.
But If there is little rainfall. winds from
the east and northeast blow over the
country with remarkable violence and per-
s1stence, and are rendered all the more
.rying by the extremes OF temperature
experienced. So late as the beginning Of
April the thermometer registered, at the
coolest pat of the day. 70 degrees Of
frost Fahrenheit, while before the end of
the month the travellers were suffering
rom the heat and glare Of the sun. with
the added torment, when the wind dropped.
Of swarms Of mosquitoes Not until we'll
INTO May was work completed along the
Inc OF frontier posts. and subsequently
Dr. Stein was kept bus,ly occupied for
some weeks among ancien. sites to the
south OF the Sha-chou oasis.
a particularly hne series Of f-escoes and
stucco sculptures, dating back a thou
sand years and illustrating the hold which
Buddh!smand Buddhist art had then OBJ
ta!ned on the country. was scovered in
the remarkable cave TEMPLES known as the
Halls of the Thousand Buddhas In short,
so extensive have been the collections
formed by DR.. Stein that they will he
declares, provide several specialists with
material for examination for long time
TO come.