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JULY, 1879.]
ANCIENT REMAINS IN AFGHANISTAN.
199
building was precisely that of the masonry in the outer walls of the masonry at Hadah and at Basawal.
But now I may say a few words about the remarkable village of Hadah. Hadah stands on some low hills entirely composed of conglomerate, and the conglomerate itself stands on beds of sandstone or grit, as I found on an examination of certain deep torrent beds near at hand. The village of Hadah occupies but a small portion of an ancient city of Buddhist temples and monasteries. The name is said to be derived from a certain King Hodah, but as I have no books of reference in camp I am unable to give you the opinion of the learned. The chief interest about the low hills about. Hadah lies in the numerous ruined topes, of which I counted upwards of 100, and in the numerous caves, some of them of vast extent, which have been scooped out of the conglomerate. The whole of these caves are beautifully arched or vaulted and plastered. The plaster is now black with smoke, but in one cave, where the plaster was but slightly blackened, there appeared a fresco, consisting of broad, right lines of black crossing each other at right angles. Most of these caves extend into the hills about 40 ft. But a few have just been discovered of infinitely grander proportions. Let me describe to you one of the largest, the entrance to which was pointed out by a native, and which had never before been visited by Europeans. We entered this remarkable cave on our hands and knees, and after proseeding some 12 ft. in a nortberly direction found ourselves in an immense hall, lying east and west, 70 ft. long and 12 ft. broad. From each end of this hall, as well as from a point somewhat west of the centre, there ran a hall at right angles for 51 ft., which opened into a separate hall, similar in length and breadth to the first and parallel with it. From this latter hall low passages, two in number, proceeded further into the hill, but these were so blocked up with soil that we could not penetrate them. Now, contrary to the opinion of severa! others in the camp, who called the cave the palace of King Hodah, I venture to think it is not a palace but a temple; and I may state my reasons for this conclusion.
1. The isolated hill which contained this remarkable cave was crowned with the ruins of two Buddhistic topes.
2. The whole interior had been filled up almost to the spring of the roof with alluvial soil and large water-worn riverstones. The entrance, too, had been almost completely effaced with similar conveyed soil and stones. This soil and these stones are altogether foreign to the geological formation, which, as I said before, consists of
conglomerate, resting immediately on sandstone. Such soil, however, exists in the adjoining fertile little valleys. Now, the Muhammadans, on cou. quering this lond, were most careful, as we know. to break down all the images of Baal," and to destroy all the temples of the heathen. These stupendous caverns, however, it was not possible for them to destroy. But they most diligently broke up all the carved work, as they did elsewhere, and at Hadah simply buried it within the temple-caves under heaps of earth and stones carried in for the purpose. By this means both idols and temples were alike consigned to oblivion.
This cavern, then, is, I believe, a temple which once contained gigantic Buddhas and carved lotos flowers, and other emblems in stone, wood, or metal of the Buddhist faith. Its true floor is probably six or eight feet below its present one of alluvial soil, and it probably consists of the lower sandstone rock. I shall feel greatly surprised if sculpture is not found in considerable quantities in these caverns.
The whole of this country is almost virgin soil to the archæologist, and it is strongly hoped that one of our learned societies may be induced to make grants of money for the purpose of exploring its many historical and antiquarian treasures.
I have here described to you the singularly interesting style of masonry which seems to be characteristic of Buddhist work, and of Buddhist work only, in this part of Afghanistan. I have seen similar masonry in the structure of some beautiful topes eight miles west of Jellalábad, on either bank of the Kabul river; but I wish now, with your permission, to describe a later visit I paid to Hadah, five miles to the south of Jellâlâbåd. As I remarked before, this village occupies a small part of the site of an ancient Buddhist sacred city, the hills on which it stood being entirely undermined with caves, most of which appear to have been filled up by the hand of man. On Saturday, January 18, I was so fortunate as to discover a set of caves, all of which have domed roofs. Most of these caves are about 14 ft. square, but they are choked with earth to within 3 ft. of the ceiling, while the entrances are so nearly obliterated with accumulated rubbish that I had to crawl in, not on my hands and knees, but literally on my stomach. Archæo. logists will be able to say whether domed caves are a discovery or not in the history of Buddhist architecture. All I can say is that these particular caves differ from the rest of the Hadah caves, which are merely vaulted or arched. The diameter of the dome is, as a rule, 12 ft.; but there is one small cave where the diameter is not more than 3ft. These domes are well moulded in plaster at the edges, and they are beautifully proportioned.
