1899.] Introduction . i x 
of Bengal, Yol. LXYI, pp. 225, 226), that he received his fragments 
(G-. 1) in the autumn (September) of 1895, and that he was told that 
they were dug np c< near some old buried city in the vicinity of Kuchar.” 
This last statement would seem to show that they were not found on 
or near the old “ tower ” of the Bower Manuscript; for the latter locality 
was not the site of a sand-buried city. The fragmentary state of the 
manuscripts (specimens are shown on Plates ii-viii of my Report, 
above referred to) tends to prove that they were really the proceeds of 
indiscriminate digging on some ancient site, which was probably being 
explored with the hope of finding treasure. A good number of such 
fragments must have been carried off at that time by the diggers ; for 
only a portion of them were given to Captain Godfrey in September, 
1895. He received them through certain Afghan merchants trading 
to Yarkand. Another (very small) portion was included (so far as I 
can now recollect) in the consignment M. 3, the items of which were 
purchased by Mr. Macartney “ from some treasure-seekers ” in Khotan 
when he visited that town in the spring of 1897. A third (also small) 
portion is included in the consignment T. 1, the items of which were 
purchased in October, 1897, by Sir Adelbert Talbot from a certain 
Muhammad Ghaus of Khotan through the Wazir Wazarat of Leli. 
The manner in which the treasure-seekers treated their find clearly 
illustrates their policy, of which more examples will be found further 
on. It is to divide their spoils into small portions which they dispose 
of to different purchasers at different times. On the whole I am rather 
disposed to believe that all these fragments (G. 1, M. 3 and T. 1) 
really come from the neighbourhood of Khotan, and were dug out 
(probably in the summer of 1895) from some sand-buried place in the 
Takla Makan. I suspect that in the statement made to Captain 
Godfrey about the “ old buried city in the vicinity of Kuchar,” there 
is some mistake, and that Khotan is really meant instead of Kuchar. 
There is, however, a third collection, also of fragments, which was 
really found near the latter town. They are the first consignment on 
my list, above given, and were dug out (apparently in September or 
October 1894) from a large mound, a little more than one mile west of 
Kuchar, by the orders of the Chinese Amban of that place. See my 
Report on these Fragments, printed in the Journal of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal, Yol. LXYI, pp. 213, 214. According to the Amban’s account, 
that mound had already been dug into “ several years ” previously, and 
on that occasion “ some ” manuscripts had been found of which no 
further information could be obtained. It is quite possible that some of 
the G. 1, M. 3 and T. 1 fragments, which in point of paper and script 
resemble the Weber MSS., may have come., out of that find. 
J. i. 2 
