68 Annual Address, [Feb- 



texture and colour. Paper appears to have been the usual writing 

 material in Eastern Ttirkistan. The art of paper making has been 

 known for ages in China ; it lias also been practised for a long time in 

 the Himalayan countries. It cannot, therefore, be a surprise to find that 

 it was also known in Eastern Turkistan, which from almost the be- 

 ginning of our era has been in more or less close political connection 

 with China. The birch, on the other hand, is not known in Eastern 

 Turkistan, while it is found in the Himalayas, and its bark is used as 

 common writing material in Kashmir. This is an additional proof of 

 the Bower Manuscript being an Indian -producb, exported to Central 

 Asia. 



Most of the Macartney Manuscripts, as I have already remarked, 

 come from the neighbourhood of Khotan. They were found or dug out 

 at different places in the Takla Makan desert, generally about 50 or 60 

 miles distant from that town. The find-spots are sometimes described as 

 ruins of walls of habitations, sometimes as cemeteries. One is described 

 as a solitary mound, and circular, about 5 feet in diameter and 2 feet in 

 height. This was evidently the ruin of an old sepulchral tumulus or 

 stupa ; for in it was found a skull resting on a coarse cloth bag enclos- 

 ing a manuscript book ; and two small copper images of horsemen were 

 dug up from its interior. The whole of this find was received by me 

 exactly in the state in which it had been found. 



The manuscripts from Khotan form a surprisingly varied collec- 

 tion, both with regard to condition and script. As to their condition, 

 there are among them bound volumes, detached leaves, and large single 

 sheets. The single sheets appear to have been official documents of some 

 kind ; for they mostly bear the inked impress of seals. Many of the 

 detached leaves appear to have originally belonged to a volume, now 

 broken up, whether by the finder or by some other cause, is not known. 

 Of bound volumes I now have twenty-one in my possession. They 

 greatly vary both in shape, size and thickness. Some are nearly square, 

 others decidedly oblong. Some are about eleven, others only about four 

 inches square ; some measure 15x4|, others only 10 or 7x4j inches. 

 The number of their leaves varies between 12 and 112. Some are 

 bound, or rather stiched, in the modern European fashion; others are 

 done up like Indian ^o^/i?s by means of a string-hole and wooden boards, 

 only instead of a string, a copper nail is passed through the hole. The 

 stiching likewise is done either by means of two or three copper nails, 

 or by twists of paper. The ink which is used is, as a rule, black ; only 

 in two or three exceptional cases, it is white ; but in either case it is 

 indelible; for all the manuscripts can be washed, without injuring the 

 writing. 



