HISTORY OF KHOTAN 
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by the nimbus, worshipping a crucifix, and surrounded 
by the words S. ANDREA AVELIN. ; on the reverse is 
the figure of a woman, St. Irene, also crowned by the 
nimbus and holding a palm or laurel leaf in her hand. 
With the saints’ names to help us, it ought not to be 
difficult to determine the age of the medal. Nor Is this 
the only Christian emblem I discovered in Khotan. I 
also brought home a miniature seraph or angel in gold, 
a copper cross, and several Byzantine gold coins. 
God grant that the time may come when within those 
very ancient walls, which have witnessed the successive 
supremacy of the three predominant religions of the 
world, the Cross shall supplant the Crescent, even as 
Gautama’s temple was formerly levelled with the ground 
before the green banner of the Prophet ! 
