BURIED CITY OF TAKLA-MAKAN 793 
pany the rivers followed the Keriya-daria in its movement 
towards the east. 
For us however this strip of dead forest possessed 
great significance. My guides knew that the ancient 
city in the sand, which they called Takla-makan, was 
situated near its eastern border. As they said, judging 
from the features of the country thereabouts, that we 
ought to be near it, and as we had already come across 
some fragments of pottery, we decided to halt and dig 
for water ; and came upon it at a depth of 6 ft. 7 in. 
I then sent the two guides to try and find the ruins. 
Meanwhile the other men took one of the camels, and 
fetched a big load of wood from the dead forest ; and 
that evening and that night we made two glorious fires. 
And we had much need of them, for the temperature 
generally fell at night to somewhere between 5° above 
and 4° below zero Fahr. (-15° and - 20° C.). 
On January 24th we left the camp to take care of itself, 
while, with the men travelling as usual on foot, and carry- 
ing spades and hatchets in their hands, I rode my camel 
bareback to the ruins, which were now in our immediate 
vicinity. 
None of the other ruined sites 1 visited in East Turkes- 
tan in the least resembled the curious remains we were now 
about to explore. As a rule the survivals of ancient towns 
in that region consist of walls and towers of sun-dried, or 
at least burnt, clay. In Takla-makan however all the 
houses were built of wood (poplar) ; not a single trace 
of a stone or clay house was discernible. They were 
also constructed in quite a different way. Although the 
ground plan in many re.spects resembled that of the 
modern houses, most of them were built in the shape 
of a small square or oblong within a larger one, and 
divided into several small rooms. The only portions 
that survived were posts six to ten feet high and pointed 
at the top, worn away by wind and sand, cracked and 
hard, but nevertheless as brittle as glass, breaking readily 
when struck. 
There were hundreds of these ruined houses ; but I 
I 
11.-9 
