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[[underline]] Chapter VIII. [[/underline]] 163.

people, and whom our workmen suspected of [[strikethrough]] being a [[/strikethrough]] ^[[acting as a spy for the]] bandit^[[s]] [[strikethrough]] spy. [[/strikethrough]] All in all we found no little apprehension prevailing; for gangs of robbers were committing depredations and atrocities through most of China at that time.
  The following morning, on our return to the Wang Fên Wa we finished clearing out the brick cist that we had found the evening before. Aside from the slight distortion already mentioned, we found its walls intact (pl. [[strikethrough]] LXXXVI) [[/strikethrough]] ^[[31, fig. 2).]]  They comprised five courses of brick, the second from the bottom being continuous with the brick floor of the cist. That the latter had ever been covered by anything but soil, there was nothing to indicate. As already stated, the cavity was completely filled with earth. This we proceeded to remove, with trowels and soft brushes, and found in it two groups of vessels, four in each group. These were of various shapes and sizes, and were likewise completely filled with earth. One lot lay just inside the southern wall of the cist, rather nearer its western than its eastern end; the other, in its northeastern corner. All save two of the vessels had been cracked and slightly crushed by earth pressure, but none of the fragments was missing. Mr. Ch'iu expressed the belief that the pottery, together with the cist that contained it, had served in the periodical worship of the dead offered by the family before the tomb.
  After finishing with the cist and its contents, we sank an exploratory shaft immediately south of it, to see whether beneath it there might be a paved approach to the tomb, perhaps at the latter's floor level; but we found nothing of the kind. This completed our work at the Wang Fên Wa. Discussion of the pottery that we found in the cist we shall defer to the following chapter, only saying here that later study showed it to be of unexpected interest; for it seemed to shed some new light on certain aspects of the beginnings of porcelain in China.