414 REV. A. H. FRANCKE ON" 



in the present villages of Khalatse and Skyinling, they took all the wooden parts of the 

 house — beams, doors, door-frames, etc. — along with them, and by taking them out of 

 the old building, effected its thorough destruction. 



Below the ruined castle are the abutting terraces of the former fields, and a little 

 above it, close to the brook, is an oasis with several apricot trees, the ruins of a house 

 and several green fields which, though once deserted, were brought under cultivation 

 again at my suggestion. They constitute the last remnant of cultivation that has sur- 

 vived from the old village to the present day. Besides the fields in the close vicinity 

 of the castle, there are many more higher up in the valley, and also traces of the ancient 

 watercourses can, in many places, be seen. These watercourses were apparently con- 

 structed with the greatest possible skill, and were led across the brook in many places. 

 There are also ruins of one or two small summer-residences among the ruined fields. 

 The total of the once cultivated area in this valley between Khalatse and Skyinling is 

 probably about as much as the total of the cultivated area of the present village of Kha- 

 latse. If all these deserted fields could be brought again under cultivation, it would 

 mean a considerable gain to the state. But as the villagers are strongly convinced that 

 the amount of obtainable water has been decreasing, since the present Kalpa has turned 

 towards' bad,' it would require a strong government and a wise irrigation officer to 

 convince them of the contrary. 



Where a little valley branches off towards the left of the castle, a very good speci- 

 men of the ordinary type of stone-mortar can be seen with the ancient pestle still in it, 

 as shown on the photo (pi. XVIII, fig. 3). After this stone-mortar the little valley is 

 called now-a-days the mortar-valley (stuny lung). 



On the hillside above the ruined castle is a group of three little mchod rten which 

 are called the mchod rten of the Dards ('aBrogpai mchod rten). They are the only 

 mchod rten which are preserved at this site. They show traces of white, red, and blue, 

 or black, colour, which reminds us of one of the songs of the Dards of Da. (See Indian 

 Antiquary, 1905, " The Eighteen Songs of the Bono Na Festival," No. II.) According 

 to that song the religious system of the Dards exhibits the same system of colours as we 

 find it in the Tibetan gLing chos, viz., white for heaven ; red for earth ; and blue or 

 black for the realm of the Nagas. Probably the three mchod rten were erected in honour 

 of these three realms of the world. Also on the top of a low ridge, a little closer to the 

 ruined castle, there are traces of ancient masonry, which may be the remnants of the 

 plinths of other ancient mchod rten or similar structures. 



Fragments of pottery are very frequent among the ruins, but neither have we as 

 yet discovered entire pieces, nor shards with a dark-red design painted on them, as have 

 been found in other places of presumably Dard origin. Ornamental pottery has, up to 

 the present, been found only in the following three places : Balu mkhar, Alchi mkhar 

 gog, and in the ancient grave one mile above Leh. The pieces found in the latter are 

 well preserved and entire, and are, for this reason, of the greatest interest. 



In the " Valley of the Mortar " mentioned above, there are several graves, built of 

 rough stones above the ground and leaning against a rock in many cases. Some of 

 them show traces of mortar. As several of them have been opened, probably by treasure- 



