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262 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
During the following days we made exploring excursions
in the neighbourhood, and re-discovered Ordek’s ruins,
amongst which we excavated the remains of an especially
elegant little temple, bringing to light several planks carved
with pictures of Buddha and various smaller objects. But
the most important of all was a small wooden tablet, bearing
lettering which none of us knew. Shagdur was the finder,
and thus earned the reward of lo Hang (33s. 4d.) which I
had promised to the man who brought me the first word of
writing. And after I promised to give the same reward for
a similar find, all the men worked with redoubled zeal and
energy, scarcely giving themselves time to eat or sleep.
Their efforts were crowned with greater success than I had
dared to hope for. First came Mollah with a small scrap
of paper, having Chinese writing on it, and after that we
found several hundred others all written upon. This was
a stroke of rare good fortune. I should be able to prove in
black and white how old these antiquities were, and what
the place was called ; nor was I deceived in this expecta-
tion. Mr. Himly, of Wiesbaden, a well-known and learned
Chinese scholar, has interpreted the documents for me, and
he tells me that most of them date from years 264 to 270
A.D., that is, from the time of the Chinese Emperors Yiian
Ti and Wu Ti. We also learned that the town was called
Lou-Ian ; that the inhabitants carried on agriculture, and
were in communication with several other Chinese towns
named in the documents ; we are also told about an army
which was to be quartered in the country, about high
officers of state, about trivial events that happened in
Lou-Ian, about hunting, and about tribute of seed-corn.
In a word, this collection of documents which I found
throws unexpected light upon the political and physical
geography of Central Asia during the first centuries after
Christ. How enormous the changes which have taken place
during the 1630 years that have elapsed since then ! Then
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