The Caves of a Thousand Buddhas

BBC news Department of the Bleeding Obvious tells us that some BNP members are racist or that there's corruption in Kenya (great speech though). Thank heavens, yet again, for the wondrous Mirabilis, with its tales of fat monks, chess and now the Dunhuang caves.

These of course are the caves described in Capt. W.E. Johns scholarly work 'Biggles In The Gobi'.

"Did you ever hear of the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas ?"
"No. That's a new one for me."
"Well, the place is pretty well known, although as it is practically inaccessible, few Europeans have seen it. It consists of a cliff honeycombed with innumerable caves, most of them interconnected and all wonderfully painted or decorated with images of Buddha. The whole place is artificial and of great age. It is believed that there are still secret recesses that no white man has ever seen. These particular caves, for there are many similar shrines in Central Asia, were first made known by the explorer Sir Aurel Stein in 1908 ..."

Capt. Johns seemed to be fond of that part of the world, as I pointed out here.

Mirabilis also links to this useful site, for people tired of registering for US news content. With its aid you can read the whole NYT story on the caves.