1899 .] 
Introduction. 
XXI 
The two images of horsemen were dug up from the interior of the mound. 
The other objects were picked up from the surrounding country.” The 
whole ot the find was transmitted to me by Mr. Macartney, especially 
the skull resting on its bag, exactly as it had been found. On opening 
the bag, it was found to contain a manuscript book, similar to those 
found at Kok Gumbaz and Qara Qol Mazar, but with its leaves cut in 
a very peculiar shape. The skull, on examination by Dr. Alcock, 
Superintendent of the Indian Museum in Calcutta, was found to be 
of the Mongolian type. The mound in which it and the horsemen were 
found is no doubt similar to those existing in Kok Gumbaz, Aq Sapil 
and other places. The combination of the objects found in it would 
seem to indicate it to be the sepulchral monument of an ancient 
chieftain. This and the finding of old coins indicates Qara Yantaq to 
have been a very ancient settlement. 
(8) Yabu Qum or ‘load-ponies’ sands’) 14 is said to be 
situated 50 or 60 miles north-east of Khotan, and is the place 
where the manuscripts of M. 1, Set III, are said to have been found. 
These have been described and figured by me in the Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LXVI, pp. 238 and 253, Plate xvii. 
The exact time of their discovery is not known, but they were 
purchased from Islam Akinin, the finder, in July 1896. Probably 
they were found in the autumn or winter of 1895, about the time when 
the finds at Qara Qol Mazar and Kok Gumbaz were made. Islam 
Akhun stated that “ at Yabu Qum some ruins of a mud wall are still 
visible,” and that “ the manuscripts were found wrapped up in a piece 
of cloth and mixed up with human bones, the whole lying on some 
partially exposed boards of a wooden coffin.” Putting this together 
with what we know of the circumstances of the finds at Aq Sapil, Kok 
Gumbaz and Qara Yantaq, it may be concluded that the “ mud wall ” 
belonged to one of those circular mounds, and that the “ human bones ” 
may have been the fragments of a skull, which had rested on the wrapped- 
up manuscripts. As to the real nature of the boards of the so-called 
“ wooden coffin,” it is premature to make any conjecture. It appears 
to me probable that the manuscript sheet G. 3, Set I, was also found at 
Yabu Qum. For that manuscript is said (in Captain Godfrey’s demi- 
official letter, No. 5208, dated the 15th September 1897, and addressed 
to the Resident in Kashmir) to have been found “ at a place 50 or 60 
miles north-east of Khotan in the midst of the Takla Makan desert; ” 
and Yabu Qum is also said “ to be situated at 50 or 60 miles north¬ 
east of Khotan in the midst of the Takla Makan desert ” (see my 
14 Mr. Backlund suggests that the name marks a spot where a caravan was lost 
in the sands. 
