DEAD CITY’S WONDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19584, 14 September 1925, Page 10

DEAD CITY’S WONDERS

RELICS IN MONGOLIA. EXPLORER’S GREAT FINDS. MANY PRINTED BOOKS. One of tho most interesting exhibitions seen iu London was opened at the British Museum recently. It is an exhibition ot archaeological objects brought back by Sir Aurel Stein from bis Central Asian expedition, which led him over vast portions of Eastern Turkestan and Western-most China, and which was earned out under tho orders of the Indian Government. During his travels he visited Khara-Khoto, the dead city in Mongolia, not long ago discovered by the eminent Russian explorer, Colonel Kosloff. Mr Lancelot Lawton, in the London Daily Chronicle says; “Sir Aurel’s report on his expedition is now in the press, but I have just received from Moscow an elaborate record, with photographs of Colonel Koaloff’s discovery of Khara-Khoto. It is one of the most important discoveries of the ago, for here archaeology breaks new ground. How ancient the city is no one knows; but _it is certain that it goes back to the period, (about 1368) which led up to tho Golden Horde, when Mongolia, it seems, was a world Power. Some original fragments of the teachings of Ghengiz Khan set down by the scribes from his own words were found amid the ruins; also business correspondence and the Debt Act of that period. THE BOOK OP SINDIBAB. “More wonderful still, part of the celebrated Persian writings of the Book of Sindibab, ‘The Stories of the Seven Sages’ (or Masters), was found in the original. One Arabic text of the story is contained in the ‘Thousand and One Nights.’ Whole libraries of books were recovered, 2600 copies in all, including one of 34 pages on medicine for horses. Many were written on silk, and the binding was of blue. They were ac new-looking as though they had been inscribed yesterday. Several editions were printed; thus it i# established that tho art of printing was known in the East much earlier than had been thought. Nor was this all. Immense quantities of objects of all kinds were found, including handweaved gobelins of exquisite beauty. But, of these, perhaps the most valuable were 300 Buddist paintings, chiefly on silk and thick linen cloth, which had been treated beforehand with a preparation of chalk and glue. The colours are fresh, and even brilliant, some quite original tints are introduced, as, for example, a tender pinkish violet. "Looking at these Buddhist paintings one is at once reminded of early Christian art. Often tho Buddha is enveloped in clouds, and at each side to be seen tho little figure o! a monk, or in a corner that of a pious layman, censor in hand. Some of these ikons arc unimaginably fantastic. The Mongolia of those days, the days of Ghengiz Khan, was evidently a land of great culture, a land in which peoplo from many distant parts of the civilised world assembled. It would appear that tho Mongols were not altogether the savages that we have imagined them to be. STRANGE AND MYSTICAL CITY. “ Kharo-Khoto, about which we now learn for the first time, is a strange and mystical city, Tho Mongolians of to-day call it tho Black City, and, believing that it is haunted by spirits, will not enter it. No one would even tell the expedition where it was located. " One night a woman, caught by a storm, was forced to take shelter there. Next day, raking over tho ruins, she found a magnificent necklace composed of three ropes of pearls. It is said that the last ruling prince, when besieged by the Chinese, buried 80 cartloads of gold, silver, and other treasure in tho city. Tho Mongolians are confident that this treasure is there, but none dare seek it lest harm befall them. “ Tlie city, which shows traces of having, been well planned, contains a number of tapering towers and a temple of original design, with a cupola. In on© of the towers, called tho praying tower, most of the books and paintings were found. Some of them wore strewn about, but others were neatly piled, aa if they had been carefully stored away for centuries. The dry air of tho desert had enabled them to survive for hundreds of years in an almost perfect stato of preservatlon‘ MAGICAL FAIRY TALES. “The country around Khara-Khoto is as strange as the dead city itself. But it is beautiful beyond dreams. Colonel Kosloff states that life in Mongolia is a magical fairy tale. Everything is fairy-like. _ In the daytime the gky is a perfect turquoise blue, and at night the moon is surrounded by a ring of rainbow colours. “On the plain enormous herds of camels, horses, antelopes, and sheep arc to bo seen—the explorer says that he has never seen so many animals assembled together before m his life. But all the animals are of an '* original shape,’’ even tho beats which lie came across looked unusual. Every night tho expedition was entertained lo a concert of howls from hundreds and hundreds of wolves which crept out. •' Colonel Kosloff says that he saw lakes literally cove-red with ducks, geese, seagulls, and storks, while overhead flew immense flocks of cygnets. Of vultures there are an abundance, and of small birds, too; indeed, tho desert is thickly populated with bird life.