6 On the Antiquities of the Peshawur District. [No. 1, 
is highly probable that the space in the middle was not built upon 
except one spot very nearly in the centre, where there seems to have 
been a shrine cr an altar. 
One of the best preserved buildings at a corner of this plateau still 
exhibits some chambers which convey a good idea of the internal 
structure of these ancient remains. A gateway with a pointed arch 
leads into a long chamber whose ceiling is formed by a prolongation 
of the arch of the gateway. ‘The arch would be pointed, but the 
centre line is taken up by a narrow rectangular groove. This cir- 
cumstance leads to the supposition, that the arch is not a true arch, 
but is formed by the stones being disposed on one another in the 
form of steps, whose lower corners were eventually cut away. There 
is another chamber, accessible from the long passage through a low 
opening, but it is quite dark, and to a great extent filled with rub- 
bish ; whether it was left dark intentionally, or whether superincum- 
bent ruins are closing up what may have been an opening, I could 
not ascertain without digging. A similar passage and chamber (or 
rather two chambers opposite each other) are also found on Bahai. 
On the plateau are found multitudes of figures in fragments, many 
of them, perhaps most, being the figure of Buddh (Sakya Muni) 
with his smooth, placid face, in his simple robe with ample pic- 
turesque drapery, elongated ear-lappets, and a halo round his head. 
The figures are either standing, or sitting cross-legged, with the bare 
soles of the feet turned upwards; the hands are frequently crossed 
over the breast, so however that the tips of the fingers of the left 
hand enter the hollow of the right; sometimes the hands rest in the 
lap ; sometimes the right hand is lifted up as if in the act of blessing. 
These figures are of dark blue or greenish slate of great brittleness, 
though not friable; they are of all sizes up to colossal. Then there 
are multitudes of haut-reliefs, but few of any good degree of pre- 
servation. ‘lhe vegetation on the hill is principally olive and myrtle, 
At the foot of this hill to the north there begins a series of low 
mounds extending far into the interior. A very few of these in the 
immediate vicinity of the frontier have been partly excavated through 
Captain Shortt, Assistant Commissioner, and sculptured remains 
from these mounds are now in Hoti Mardan, and in the museum at 
Peshawur. A few of these have been photographed by two officers, 
and I enclose copies of them. 
