Identifier: ruinsofdesertcat01stei (find matches)
Title: Ruins of desert Cathay : personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Stein, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943 Archaeological Survey of India
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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s (Fig. 119, 13, 14), exactly like the covering tablets of official Kharoshthi documents, afforded special satisfaction to my archaeological conscience ; for the Chinese writing they bore, evidently addresses, proved clearly that I had been right when years before I conjectured a Chinese origin for all the essential technical features of that ancient wooden stationery first brought tolight at the Niya site. But still more welcome, perhaps, on account of the new problem it raised, was a small strip of paper showing two lines in an unknown writing I had never seen before. It manifestly ran from right to left, and several of the characters distantly recalled Aramaic. No de-cipherment could be hoped for from such a fragment.Yet the script, with its clearly Western look, forcibly drew my thoughts to people from ancient Sogdiana or even more distant Iranian lands who might have travelled and traded by this old high road to the country of the silk-weaving Seres. As I put the precious fragment carefully

Text Appearing After Image:
119. ANCIENT CHINESE DOCUMENTS ON WOODEN TABLETS, FROM RUINS OF THE NTYA AND LOP-NOR SITES, AND OF THE TUN-HUANG LIMES.
Scale, two-thirds.
1, 11, from N. XIV., Niya Site ; 2, 13, 16, from LA. vi., Lop-nor Site ; 3-10, 12, 14, 15, from various watch-stations of ancient Chinese Limes. Nos. 3, 16 are covers with seal-sockets ; No. 14 is a shaving.

CH. XXXIV ABUNDANT CHINESE RECORDS 395

away, I had little inkling of the great find of complete letters in the same script which was waiting for me in aforlorn watch-station at the eastern end of this ancient desert route. That all these miscellaneous records had found their way to the large refuse-heap as sweepings from the surrounding offices and dwellings, was plainly shown by the plentiful remnants of worn-out articles of clothing and broken implements which we found mixed up with there fuse. The collection of rags in all kinds of fabrics, from fine silk and brocade to felts and coarse homespun ; of old shoes and sandals in leather, woven string, e

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