BURIED CITY OF TAKLA-MAKAN 797 
closing the figure of a seated woman with a rosary in 
her hands, and above all lotus flowers in profusion. See 
the two accompanying plates. 
To have carried away the wall, just as it was, was of 
course utterly out of the question. It will last well 
enough ; but the plaster and the paintings peeled off at 
the least touch. I therefore copied the latter, taking the 
dimensions and noting down the colours. In digging 
on the outside of the wall we discovered a piece of 
paper, written in what were to me undecipherable 
characters, although many of them were quite well pre- 
served. Near the same spot we also discovered a life- 
sized human foot modelled in gypsum. Like the paintings, 
it was executed with unusual refinement of taste, and had 
plainly belonged to an idol, an image of Buddha. The 
men’s supposition, that we were in an old Buddhist temple, 
was not improbable. The commanding position of the 
ruin on elevated ground and the praying figures alike 
supported their view. 
As there was nothing more to be found there, we at- 
tacked another building. The outer surface of its walls 
was destroyed, and only a few of the posts still remained , 
but these were sufficient to show, from the square holes 
and marks near the top, that the house had consisted of 
two stories, or like the Persian houses, and like many of 
the dwellings in Khotan, Kargalik, and Yarkand, was pro- 
vided with a bala-khaneh (upper house). 
In that place the sand was quite shallow, and by pure 
chance the men’s spades unearthed a number of gypsum 
figures in relief, each from four to eight inches high, 
and flat at the back, showing that they had served as 
wall-decorations. They represented images of Buddha 
seated, against a background of lotus-leaves, or a 
of flames ; women standing, with one hand outstretched 
and the other laid over the breast, dressed in long, 
voluminous mantles, with hanging sleeves and open at 
the neck so as to show a necklace. The faces were 
nearly round ; and the hair was gathered up m a knot 
on the top of the head. The ears were very long, with 
