748 EXPLORATION IN OHINESE TURKESTAN. 



The plan of archaeological explorations al)out Khotan, and of the 

 jonrney that was to lead to them, was first suggested to nie in the spring 

 of 1S9T, })y a series of remarkable antiquarian acquisitions from that 

 region. Among the papers left behind b}'^ that distinguished but ill- 

 fated French traveler, M. Dutreuil de Rhins, there were found frag- 

 ments of ancient birch-bark leaves, which had been acquired in the 

 vicinit}^ of Khotan, and which proved to contain a Buddhist text in an 

 early Indian script and language. On pu])lication the}' were soon rec- 

 ognized as the oldest then known Indian manuscript, going back to 

 the first centuries of our era. About the same time the " British col- 

 lection of Central Asian antiquities," which had been formed at Cal- 

 cutta with the assistance of the government of India in the foreign 

 department, and under the care of Doctor Iloernle, the eminent indol- 

 ogist, received from the same region very notable additions consisting 

 of manuscripts, ancient potter}^, and other remains. These objects 

 had been sold to the political representatives of the Indian govern- 

 ment in Knshgar, Kashmir, and Ladak, as tinds made by native "treas- 

 ure seekers" at ancient sites near Khotan and in the neighboring 

 portions of the Taklamakan Desert. A curious feature of these acqui- 

 sitions was that, bedsides undoubtedly ancient documents in Indian and 

 Chinese characters, they contained a large proportion of manuscripts 

 and "blockprints"'' in a surprising variety of entirel3Mudvnown scripts. 

 While the materials thus accumulated, no reliable information w\as 

 ever foi-thcoming as to the exact origin of the tinds or the character 

 of the ruined sites which were supposed to have furnished them. 



No part of Chinese Turkestan had as yet l)een explored from an 

 archaeological point of view, and, however much attention these dis- 

 coveries attracted among competent European orientalists, it was 

 evident that their full value for the ancient history and culture of 

 Central Asia could never be realized without accurate researches on 

 the spot. The practica))le nature of such investigations was proved 

 by the memora])le march whicli Dr. Sven Iledin had made in the win- 

 ter of 1895-9<) through the Taklamakan Desert northeast of Khotan, 

 and of which the first accounts reached me in 1898. It had taken the 

 famous Swedish explorer past two areas of sand-buried ruins, and, 

 though his necessarily short halt at each had not permitted of an}" 

 exact evidence being secured as to the character and date of the ruins, 

 this discover}' amply sufficed to demonstrate both the existence and 

 comparative accessibility of ancient sites likely to reward excava- 

 tion. * * * 



By the middle of April, 1900, I was at last able to leave steamy and 

 overcivilized Calcutta for Kashmir, where I completed the outtit and 

 transport arrangements needed for my caiup. The many tours I had 

 made during pi-evious years through the mountains in and about 

 Kashmir had furnished me with sufficient practical experience to enable 



