798 
THROUGH ASIA 
hanging lobes, as in Buddhist images of idols at the 
present day. The eyes were almond-shaped and oblique ; 
and at the back of the head was a ring resembling a halo. 
Other figures represented women with bared breasts, 
holding a bow-shaped garland over their heads. Then 
there were friezes of divers kinds, fragments of pillars, 
headings, and flowers— all in plaster. Of each of these I 
took a selection ; some of them are shown on page 799. 
In some of the other houses we also made discoveries, 
though of less importance. Thus w’e found a long piece 
of carved wooden cornice, the pattern of which I copied, 
a silkworm chrysalis, the axle of a wheel, which appeared 
to have belonged to a spinning-wheel or some implement 
of that kind, fragments and handles of earthenware 
pitchers, a well-preserved single helix or wooden screw, 
and a millstone of porphyry more than six feet in diam- 
eter, which was of course at one time driven by running 
water. 
Among the sand-dunes there were several traces of 
gardens. Truncated stems of the ordinary poplars still 
stood in rows, marking the direction of ancient avenues. 
Nor were indications wanting that here apricot and plum- 
trees had formerly lived and thrived. 
The walls of this God-accursed city, this second 
Sodom in the desert, had thus in ancient times been 
washed by a powerful stream — the Keriya-daria ; and its 
houses and temples been watered by numerous artificial 
canals. Close to the city, and along the banks of the 
river, luxuriant woods tossed their quivering leaves in 
the breeze, as they still do beside the existing Keriya- 
daria ; and in the hot summer days the leafy apricot-trees 
gave cool shade to the inhabitants. The streams were 
powerful enough to make millstones revolve. Silk was 
cultivated, and horticulture and the industries flourished. 
The people who dwelt there manifestly knew how to 
decorate their homes with good taste and a sense of 
artistic fitness. 
At what period was this mysterious city inhabited ? 
When did its last crop of russet apricots ripen in the sun ? 
