rom the east: Iranians
from the west, bearing with them in the stream fragments that had
drifted from Asia Minor and Byzantium, while still other currents
brought Hindus and Tibetans from the south.

One feature of special interest in the history of the Tarim is that it
was in touch with Bactria and the regions conquered by Alexander and
through them with western art and thought. Another is that its
inhabitants included not only Iranian tribes but the speakers of an
Aryan language hitherto unknown, whose presence so far east may oblige
us to revise our views about the history of the Aryan race. A third
characteristic is that from the dawn of history to the middle ages
warlike nomads were continually passing through the country. All these
people, whether we call them Iranians, Turks or Mongols had the same
peculiarity: they had little culture of their own but they picked up
and transported the ideas of others. The most remarkable example of
this is the introduction of Islam into Europe and India. Nothing quite
so striking happened in earlier ages, yet tribes similar to the Turks
brought Manichaeism and Nestorian Christianity into China and played no
small part in the introduction of Buddhism.

A brief catalogue of the languages represented in the manuscripts and
inscriptions discovered will give a safe if only provisional idea of
the many influences at work in Central Asia and its importance as a
receiving and distributing centre. The number of tongues
simultaneously in use for popular or learned purposes was remarkably
large. To say nothing of great polyglot libraries like Tun-huang, a
small collection at Toyog is reported as containing Indian, Manichaean,
Syriac, Sogdian, Uigur and Chinese books. The writing materials
employed were various like the idioms and include imported palm
leaves, birch bark, plates of wood or bamboo, leather and paper, which
last was in use from the first century A.D. onwards. In this dry
atmosphere all enjoyed singular longevity.

Numerous Sanskrit writings have been found, all dealing with religious
or quasi religious subjects, as medicine and grammar were then
considered to be. Relatively modern Mahayanist literature is abundant
but greater interest attaches to portions of an otherwise lost
Sanskrit canon which agree in substance though not verbally with the
corresponding passages in the Pali Canon and are apparently the
original text from which much of the Chinese Tripitaka was
transla