Dr. Hoernle — Antiquities from Central Asia. [Extra No. 1, 
Xll 
some years ago, received from Kucliar a fisli contained in a box, found 
buried in the ground.” Dildar Khan’s remark about the inscribed 
stone-wall (a stone slab let into the wall?) is curious. It is, as 
I learn from Mnnshi Ahmad Din, based on a statement by Qadir 
Hakim Beg of Kucliar, who, passing through Yarkand in 1895 on a 
pilgrimage to Mecca, was questioned on the subject of the discovery of 
the manuscripts. He was requested at the time by Mr. Macartney to 
procure a copy of the inscription ; but owing to his death in Mecca, 
nothing more was heard of the slab. The truth of the report is 
well worth further enquiry: if true, the inscription might prove to 
be a most valuable record. At the same time, considering that the 
“room” must have been in almost complete darkness and that the 
explorers probably had no means of lighting it, it is not quite easy 
to understand, how, with the exception of the manuscripts which they 
brought away with them, they could identify the exact nature of what 
they found inside. I may note, however, that also in the stupas of 
Afghanistan occasionally similar curious deposits have been found. Thus 
Masson relates (in the Ariana Antiqua , p. 110) that in “ Tope No. 11 
of Hidda” there were found in “an interior cupola” “some human 
bones and two or three animal teeth,” which were afterwards identified 
as those “ of the ass, the goat and a species of deer.” Also with reference 
to the “ spacious room ” I may note that similar large chambers, in the 
form of “cupolas ” or cubical “ apartments ” have been found in 
many of the “Topes and Tumuli” of Afghanistan. Thus, in “Tope 
No. 2 of Kotpur there was discovered a large cupola with a diameter 
of 12 feet.” 6 In Buner, Dr. Stein found in the Takhtaband stupa a 
cubical chamber, of 7 feet dimensions, which was lined with large and 
carefully cut slabs.” This may illustrate the presence of an inscribed 
slab in the Kuchar stupa. 
Most of the antiquities, including all the pottery, coins and other 
miscellaneous objects, as well as many manu¬ 
scripts and all block-print books, have come 
from Khotau, from various sand-buried sites 
in the Takla Makan desert. Fifteen of these sites, situated at various 
distances, from 5 to 150 miles distant from Khotan, are now known, 
though, only two of them, Borazan and Aq Safil, have been verified by 
European visitors. Eor the remainder we have only the information 
given by native treasure-seekers, principal among whom appears to be 
a certain Islam Akhun of Khotan. These fifteen sites are:— 
(1) Borazan ( ). This place was visited by Messrs. Hogberg 
and Backlund, Swedish Missionaries in Kashghar, in 1897. It was 
6 See Ariana Antiqua , pp. 65, 69 et passim. 
Ancient sites near 
Khotan. 
