38 



ARCHAEOLOGY. (BUDDHIST.) 



cavations in it have been taken a considerable 

 number of objects of architecture and art, in- 

 cluding fragments of columns, parts of the 

 statue of Athene, which agree with the de- 

 scription of the work given by Pansanias, 

 pieces of sculpture, grave-stones, clay jars, 

 tiles, some bits of work of Christian art, nu- 

 merous inscriptions, including a fragment of 

 an edict by Diocletian, fixing the maximum of 

 prices in the Roman Empire ; and terra cotta- 

 figures, of which six hundred were found in 

 the temple alone. 



(Buddhist) Cave-Dwellings on Murghab River. 

 Capt. F. de Laessoe has described several caves 

 of different dimensions, which were excavated 

 for habitation, in the sandstones of the right 

 bank of Murghab river, near Penjdeh, in Af- 

 ghanistan. One, which he explored in the 

 hill called the Yaki Deshik, was an elaborate 

 structure. It stands about two hundred feet 



YAKI DESHIK CAVES (LOWER STOUT). 



above the river, in a waterless hill, and has 

 rooms communicating with one another, on 

 two levels. The principal part of the cave 

 is shown in the annexed plan. A central 

 passage one hundred and fifty feet long, nine 

 feet broad, and nine feet high, has on each 

 side a number of staircases and doors lead- 

 ing to rooms of different sizes, but all ex- 

 cavated on the same principle. The passage 

 and rooms are vaulted and of a uniform height 

 of nine feet to the top of the vault, which starts 

 from a slightly projecting edge about four feet 

 from the floor. The top is marked in its whole 

 length by an incision one inch broad and halt 

 an inch deep. Walls and roof are finely and 



elaborately cut with a pickaxe, and in some ot 

 the rooms the walls are divided into square 

 panels, and the roofs into bands or stripes two 

 feet broad, every second panel or band stand- 

 ing out in relief. Each room has attached to 

 it a small, usually square chamber, with a 

 round well from eight to ten feet deep, and 

 about two and a half feet in diameter, to 

 which, possibly, water was carried up from the 

 river to be stored. The entrance leading from 

 the central passage to each room is about four 

 feet long, two and a half feet broad, and two 

 feet high. Each entrance has been shut by 

 folding-doors on wooden hinges, of which 

 nothing remains ; but the socket-holes of the 

 hinges and a hole for the admission of the arm 

 behind the door to draw back the bolt are 

 plainly to be seen. The upper story is much 

 less extensive than the lower story, having only 

 three large rooms, with a few smaller ones. 

 Communication was had between it and the 

 lower story by several staircases and other 

 means. In the principal room, which is cruci- 

 form, the central vault is round, while all the 

 other vaults in the cave are pointed. The 

 shading in rooms II and XII in the engraving 

 marks a shelf of rock or low ledges separating 

 the recessed apartments from the main room to 

 which they are attached. 



The central passage of the caves is dimly 

 lighted from the entrance, and the' floor slopes 

 upward, so that the farther end is about ten 

 feet higher than the entrance. Small cut- 

 tings in the walls of each room, particularly 

 above the entrance, appear to have been de- 

 signed to give room for small lamps. The walls 

 around some of these cuttings were still slight- 

 ly tinged with soot. No inscriptions or carv- 

 ings were found anywhere. The floors of some 

 of the rooms were entirely covered with the 

 excrement of leopards. The head of a fox 

 was found in one of the wells. Otherwise, 

 the caves were empty, but well preserved. 

 Coins, apparently Mohammedan, of the twelfth 

 century, were found in one of the rooms of 

 the upper story, but about half-way down in 

 the sand, in such a position as to show that 

 they had been left there after the caves had 

 been abandoned, and had become partly filled 

 with sand. These caves are the most exten- 

 sive in Penjdeh, but mapy other caves, simi- 

 larly constructed, though containing fewer 

 rooms, are found all along the valley. At one 

 of the caves the cliff was so well preserved as 

 to show how access was gained. Two parallel 

 rows of incisions led from the entrance of the 

 cave down to a shelf of rock, which could be 

 reached without much difficulty from below. 

 By suspending a rope from the cliff above 

 the entrance, and afterward from the entrance 

 itself, the incisions could be used as steps while 

 the rope was held with both hands, and climb- 

 ing was comparatively easy. The caves are 

 supposed to have been inhabited by Buddhist 

 ascetics, and are ascribed by Sir Henry Raw- 

 linson the majority of them to the first 



