FINDS IN ASIA.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14889, 31 January 1914, Page 5

FINDS IN ASIA.

■ : « AUREL STEIN'S'DISCOVERIES. Some particulars aro to hand, from the. pen of tho explorer himself, of tho travels of Sir Aurel who is carrying out geographical and archaeological explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China. Sir Aurel resumed his work in the summer with Rai Bahadur Lai Singh, Sub-Assistant Superintendent'of tho Survey of India, and a second surveyor, and his expectation is that tho journey will-last two and a half years. Leaving Kashmir at tho ond of July. he proceeded through tho valleys «f Darel and .Tangir to the Indus. On moving down to Mankiai—as he explains in the 'Geographical Journal"— ho found a great number of ruined sites, most of which proved to bo the | remains of.fortified settlements, clearly of pre-Mobammedan date. '_y their construction on natural! v strong rocky ridges bearing elaborately built terraces, and also by other fea*tures, they curious li recalled tho extensive ruined settlements of the Buddhist period so numerous in the Swat and Peshawur valleys. It seemed like a distinct confirmation of the tradition preserved in the Chinese records as to the early historical connexion be tween Darel and Swat. Near one of these ruins rapid excavation brought to light unmistakable remains of a Buddhist burial ground in the shape of cinerary urns, metal ornaments, etc." HISTORICAL RELICS. From the Tangir Valley the party went north through tho mountain tracts of Gupis and Yasin. "Tho former (says Sir Aurel) we entered by a pass, nearly i6,C00 feet high, which had never been surveyed. Tho huge masses of rock debris left behind by ancient glaciers made it exceptionallytrying, but it meant a short cut. In Yajiri I found myself on the historically important routo which forrhs the nearest connexion between Oxus and Tndus. There was much to attest here Central Asian influence. Besides interesting ruins of old forts, I traced Buddhist remains and much fine old wood carving in houses, etc. "The glacier pass of Darkot. by which we crossed to the Yarkhan river headwaters, offered special historical interest as tho gate by which a Chinese despatched in 747 A.D. against the Tibetans effected its entry into Yasin and Gilgit. Considering the great natural obstacles, it was a remarkable military achievement, just as the successful passage of the Pamirs *3t popooojd qoiqit ..uutr osourqQ b _q ''•So it was a particularly gratifying find when I discovered a Tibetan" inscription scratched into a large boulder on tho track where it ascends a lateral moraine of the T>arkot glacier from the south. It obviously is a relic of that Tibetan advance to the Oxus which the Chinese Annals record about the middle of the eighth century, and which the adventurous expedition just referred to was intended to stop." The winter is to be spent in the desert.