オーレル・スタイン著 “Ancient Khotan(1907)"の一部を書写したので紹介する。600ページくらいある本だった。
FROM KASHMIR TO THE PAMIRS
Section 1. THE GILGIT ROAD AND KISANGANGA VALLEY
KASHMIR, where in 1898 the first plan of my explorations had been formed, and where two years later , in May 1900 , I completed the practical preparations of journey , was by reason of historical associations and geographical position alike a most appropriate starting-point for my archaeological enterprise. I may therefore fitly commence this detailed account of my antiquarian observations from the same ground. The labours which I devoted during the preceding ten years to the elucidation of Kalhana's chronicle of KASHMIR, and the manifold historical researches necessitated by this task , had made me eagerly look out whatever traces survived of ancient relations between KASHMIR and Central-Asian regions lying beyond its great mountain barriers. The information to be gleaned from the sources accessible to me was scanty, even in regard to the tracts immediately adjoining KASHMIR, which were undoubtedly subject from early times to its cultural influence. But the results of the close study I bestowed on the ancient topography of KASHMIR, assured me of at least one interesting fact, which at the time of my start (May 31, 1900) appeared like an auspicious omen: there could be no doubt from the first that the route I was to follow through the mountain on leaving the KASHMIR Valley for the north had a claim to considerable antiquity and historical importance.
