N EN AK ‘ SAAN oe SANY Wasey DS 742 Sie F% a Goruell University Library Dthaca, New York CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 NN Date Due PEAK IN THE KUEN LUN RANGE, DRAWN BY MAJOR STRUTT FROM A SKETCH BY R. &, SHAW, VISITS TO HIGH TARTARY, YARKAND, AND KASHGHAR (FORMERLY CHINESE TARTARY), AND RETURN JOURNEY OVER THE KARAKORAM PASS. By ROBERT SHAW, BRITISH COMMISSIONER IN LADAK. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STRERT. 1871. t Tne right of Translation is reserved. PREFACE. —_+e—— Ir is necessary that I should say a few words to explain the late appearance of this book. On my return to England in January, 1870, after my expedition to Yarkand, I was preparing to put into shape my notes regarding that country, when a telegram from India in the Times announced that some British officers were to be sent on a friendly visit to the Atalik-Ghazee, or King of Eastern Toorkistan. I at once telegraphed an offer to join this expedition, and within five days received an answer favourable to my wishes. I was therefore obliged to leave England at once, and hurry out to the place of rendezvous, the northern end of the Pangong Lake in Western Tibet. The records of my former journey existed in the shape of a journal written from day to day when there was anything of interest to write, and of a diary (almost illegible to any one but myself) record- ing mere daily movements, or such things as there was not opportunity to write out more fully. These I brought out to India with me in the steamer, and prepared for publication in such a hurried manner as was alone possible amid the heats and discomforts b vi PREFACE. of a voyage down the Red Sea in June. It seemed a pity to plunge again into Toorkistin without leaving behind me some of the results of my first exploration, and so my hastily corrected MS. went home by the next mail. As my early return from my second expedition permitted of my bestowing the last cares on my book. before’ submitting it to the public, it was again sent out to me for that purpose. But it found me prostrated by a severe and dangerous illness, the result of the exposure which I had undergone. Hence a fresh delay, which T have been unwilling to increase by a more adequate revision. Finally, after travelling with me from Toorkistaén to England and out again, then home and out a second time, my unfortunate book is now setting out on its fifth voyage between Asia and Europe, trusting to be no longer tossed by adverse waves and blasts. The explanation of this delay will account for, and I hope cover, many of the deficiencies which will be found. With regard to the spelling of the names, I have endeavoured to give such combinations of letters as will enable an ordinary English reader (unacquainted with the Jonesian, Gilchristian, or any other system) to pronounce the words in a way not differing very much from that of the natives. The sole rule I have to offer is that the words in this book should be pronounced naturally, with the single exception that the g is always hard, even before ¢ or 7. I conceive the object in a work of this sort should PREFACE. vii be to enable the reader not to write out the words in their proper native characters, which he has not the least desire to do, but to ascertain approximately their native sound. The practical effect of spelling, ac- cording to one of the systems, is that half the readers (who naturally will not take the trouble to learn it) catch the wrong sound, while my words, though uncouth-looking, will, I trust, not mislead in the same manner. The orthographic systems, like the Pierian spring, are dangerous to those who have not drunk pretty deeply of them. - For instance, the system which renders the Oriental short vowel by “u,” expects the reader to pronounce its word “hue” to rhyme with figh! But this requires a very cultivated taste. Nor is it likely that without instruction we should forget our early associations, and pronounce the word “Turk” as though it were written “ Toork,” which the Jonesian system requires. In fact, the letter uw is a very dangerous one. Half the people who might see the words “pundit” or “Punjab” for the first time, would be uncertain whether they should pronounce the wu as in “ Hindu” or as in “ Turkey.” I confess that if I could have hoped that my readers would begin by learning a table of pronun- ciations I would have prefixed one to the volume, for I should much prefer to use the Jonesian system ; but, as they would in practice do nothing of the kind, they would only catch a wrong pronunciation from a too scientific method. I also wish to enter a protest against what may be b 2 viii PREFACE. called the foreign method of spelling for English readers, which is sometimes adopted. Combinations are used to represent certain Oriental letters which the French or Germans may not have equivalents for, but which we have. For instance, Dschenguiz is written, when Chengiz would represent the sound as well to us, and would moreover possess the advantage of being an English form. And so “Djedda” for “Jedda,” “djangal” for the familiar “jungle.” Surely we Englishmen have enough con- nection with the East ourselves, not to be dependent for our Eastern words on any other European nation. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The Author’s satiieiet in the Himalaya — Interest attracted to the Trans-Himalayan Region — General Physical Relations of Tibet and the Himalaya — The Regions beyond Tibet; hitherto inaccessible— Murder of A. Schlagintweit — Johnson’s Visit to Khoten — The Author’s Preliminary Visit to Ladik— The Table Land of Tibet; its Cold Blasts; its Villages and their Inhabitants —Lamas— The Town of Leh (Ladak) — Meeting with Toorkee Merchants — Their Gratitude for Advantages obtained through Dr. Cayley — Return from Ladak to Kangra — Hardships in the Bara Lacha Pass— Preparations for a Journey into Eastern Toorkistin— Adoption of the Mercantile Cha- racter — Moonshee Diwan Baksh buen’ as confidential — and Forerunner .. 0 ww 0. eee cs oe wee we Page 1 CHAPTER IIL THE TRIBES OF TOORKISTAN AND TARTARY. Charaeteristics of the People of Eastern Toorkistén — “ Tartarised Aryans ” — The original Inhabitants probably of Aryan Blood — Last Relic of these in Sarikol— Toork and Tajik; Kirghiz and Sart— The People of Badakhshan; and of Wakhan— The Oozbeks— The Kipchaks — The Toorkméns—The Kazaks—The Kara-Kalpaks — The Kirghiz — Their Mahamadanism ; Settlers in Eastern Toorkistan ; Cashmeerees ; Baltees; Badakshees — The Thian-Shan; Kalmaks — The Great Desert ; the Doolans — Zungaria — The Toonganees; alleged Etymo- logy of the Name, and Origin of the People—The Taranchees, Kansoo, Charchand, and its mention by Marco Polo— Zilm, and its approximate Position The Talkas .. .. .. «1 +e oe) we 21 CHAPTER III RECENT HISTORY OF EASTERN TOORKISTAN, . Affairs in the Khanate of Khokand, and expulsion of the Ruler Khooda Yar Khan — Khoja Wallé Khan, and his invasion of Eastern Toor- kistan — His murder of A. Schlagintweit — Khooda Yar Khan recovers x CONTENTS. CHAPTER III.—continued. the throne of Khokand — Disturbances in KAshghar and Yarkand — Advance of the Russians in Western Toorkistan — Account of the Revolt of the Toongdnees against the Chinese Rule — The Kirghiz descend on Kashghar — Their Barbarities — Fresh invasion from Andijan — Toongénees in power at Yarkand — Mahammad Yalcoob takes Kashghar and YArkand — Assumes title of Atalik-Ghazee — Conquers Khoten, and puts to death the Khan Habiboollah — Receives an Envoy from Russia—Conquest and depopulation of Sarikol — Chronological Table of Recent History .. .. «. «. «. Page 41 CHAPTER IV. JOURNEY FROM KANGRA TO LADAK. The Valley of Kooloo—A Yarkandee Orphan taken in charge — The Bara Lacha Pass— Change of Physical Aspect — Characteristics of a Rainless Region — Trench-like Valley of the Indus— Détour east of Ladaék in search of new Route —Extracts from Journal-Letters — Hajjis on return to Central Asia— Their view of Christians — The Plateau of Roopshoo-— Chinese Aspect of People—The Pangong Lake — Dr. Cayley’s explorations — Author joins him and goes to Leh — Interview with Envoy from Yarkand — Arrangement to des- patch the Moonshee with the Envoy — Mr. Douglas Forsyth at Leh — Troubles of .Preparation —The Argoons or Half-bloods, and their rascalities —Mr. Thorp’s proposal to join the Author — Departure from Tadak. ei ee ee ee OR ak ee BO) CHAPTER V. JOURNEY FROM LADAK TO THE KARAKASH RIVER. Doorgoo— Price of Shawl-wool — Tanksé— Difficulties about Ponies — Hire of Yaks— Enter the Chang-chenmo Plains— Wild Yak shooting — Ovis Ammon — Message from Mr. Hayward proposing a Junction aise Reports of Country to the Eastward — Meeting with Hayward ; his Plans — Objections to a Junction ; Separation of the two Travellers — Singular Posture recommended for Sleeping in the Cold— Plain of Lingzee-Thang—The “ Lavender-Plant,” and its scanty Fuel — The Guddee Servants (from Kangra) — Lyre-horned Antelope — Lak-zung — Wild Yak shot — The Cook breaks down — Tibetan diet — Ice-lake— The Kuen Lun in sight— The KarAkash River — March - down its banks — Warm Springs — J ade-quarries — Kyangs, or Wild ASbOS ae. cae ga Ge BR es ek 78 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER VIL DETENTION AT SHAHIDOOLLA. Letter from Fort of Shahidoolla Khoja — Toorks; their Dress and Manners —The name Tibet used by them — Recapitulation of Journey down the Karékash — First sight of a Kirghiz Yourt—Its Inhabitants — Arrival of Toork Soldiers — Traveller sends by them a Letter to the King (Atalik-Ghazee) — Arrival at Shahidoolla, and detention there for orders — Arrival of a Mibmander on the part of Kashghar Govern- ment — Difficulties caused by Hayward’s Approach — Continued De- tention — Arrival of a Messenger from the Moonshee — Traveller assumes the Moghul (or Toork) Dress — Hayward’s Arrival at Shahi- doolla — Correspondence with him — End of the Detention.. Page 100 CHAPTER VIL SHAHIDOOLLA TO YARKAND. March down the Karakash, and turn off by the Sanjoo Pass— The com- forts of a Kirghiz Tent — Horseflesh — Distant view of the Plains of Toorkistin — Meeting with the Yoozbashee — Toork mode of sitting —The Dastur-khaén (Table-cloth) or offering of Food — Visit to the Yoozbashee — Traces of Scythian Costume — Partridge Hunting, and other Toork Diversions — A Toorkistanee House — Letter etiquettes — The Beg of Sanjoo— Toork Saddles — Guddee Merchants .._ .. 129 CHAPTER VIIL CONTINUATION OF JOURNEY TO YARKAND. The Desert — Town of Kargalik — Character of the cultivated Country — Irrigation, and Mills — Well-being of People—The Gallows — The Birkoot or Hunting Eagle— The Bactrian Camel —The Arabah or Toorkee Cart Repairs of Road in honour of the Traveller — Mode of Travelling — The Yoozbashee; his cordiality, vivacity, and good manners — Conversation on Khokand, &c. — Horse Play, called Ooghlek — Hajjee from Bokhara —Tea-trade— Village of Bora—The Lyre- horned Antelope — Wild Camels — Evening Amusements — Honours paid to the Traveller — Quantities of Food supplied — Cross the Yarkand River — Approach to the City —The Public Scaffold — The City of. Yarkand— The Yang-Shakr, New-Town, or Chinese Cantonment — Quarters assigned, and Welcome to Yarkand .. .. .. .. -« 154 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. RESIDENCE AT YARKAND. The Shagh&wal Dad-khwah; his high Position — Visit t Reception — The Moonshee’s account of his Mission — Quarters — Furniture supplied, and other Presents — Another Inter- view with the Shagh4wal— Murder of Schlagintweit — Report of the City by the Traveller’s Servants — The Traveller kept within Doors — The Ramazin —The Shaghdwal again — Conversation about the Chinese, &c.— Mr. Hayward .. . Page 178 o him, and good The Traveller’s CHAPTER X. RESIDENCE AT YARKAND—continued. The Yoozbashee — The Province of Sarikol — Talk with Moonshee regard- ing Infanticide in India — Presents to the Shaghwal and Conversation with him—Toorkee Views of Ethnology —Old Books — Sufferers from Goitre—Christmas Festivities and Presents—The Traveller gives a Dinner-party The Mahammadan Servants held to Orthodox Conduct — Present from the Shaghdwal— Pistol Accident — The Ga~- zelle called Saikeek — Musicians — New Year’s Day — Frozen Grapes — Cashmere Mischief-makers— Anecdote of the King — Money sup- plied to the Traveller —-The Shagh4wal; his historical Knowledge — Arrangements for advance to Kashghar .. .. «4 wwe 201 CHAPTER XI YARKAND TO KASHGHAR. Defences of the Yarkand Yang-shahr— Book of the History of Timoor — Branch of Yarkand River — Sand-hill Tract — The Pamir Mountains — The Kizil-Tagh — Royal Rest-house—The Shaghdwal’s Reputation for Learning —Toorkee Women — Traditions of Chinghiz — Talk about India — Village of Kizil — Iron-furnaces — Farm-house Arrange- ments — Mode of Smelting lron — Sand-hills again — Rich cultivation — City of Yang-hissir — Murder of Schlagintweit — Explanations about English Rulers in India — Cross River Koosoon — Riding Extra- ordinary——The Mahrambashee.. .. 2... 0. us we ww DBL CHAPTER XII. ARRIVAL AT KASHGHAR. Four Rivers crossed — The Yang-shahr, or Fortress of Kashghar — Pre- sents for the King — Procession to the Palace— Kalmak Archers — The King — Conversation with him— Gracious Dismissal — Neglect CONTENTS. xili CHAPTER XII.—continued. by the Underlings; notice thereof and amende made— Russian Rifle — Spies — Confinement of the Traveller to his Quarters, and conse- quent Ennui— Evil Rumours— Native Candles— Sulphur Matches — Price of Cotton — Arrival of the Shaghawal — Gymnastics — The Legends of Alexander — Legends of Toorkee History and Conversion ; Legends of Russians and Chinese .. .. .. «. 4. « Page 257 CHAPTER XIII. DETENTION AT KASHGHAR. Chinese Women and their Feet —Ignorance about the British Dominion in India — Prisoners from Sarikol— Balti Songs — Powder-making —Stories of former English Visitors — Sarikol People — Feeling of Natives of India towards Englishmen in this Foreign Land — Con- sumption of Tea — Executions —Author recognized by a Kanera Raj- poot — The Mahrambashee’s view of Sins —The exploring Mirza — The Indian Mutiny — Ceremonies at New Moon — The King’s alleged Favour to the Traveller — The i of Khoten — The Moonshee’s Lies — Oriental Fables .. 4... io me is ee 288 CHAPTER XIV. DETENTION AT KASHGHAR—continued. Mountains near Kashghar — Recent Establishment of a Fort to guard the Passes—The Russians—The King’s Bravery, and the Mahram- bashee’s Dislike to War — Chinese Punishments— Hozee, the Orphan — Puritanical Restrictions on Former Amusements — Hayward’s Ar- rival — Confinement of Envoys— ‘The Mirza — Letter from Hayward — Views of the Russian War of 1855 — Heroic end of the Chinese Governor at Yarkand «wk ee eee ee eee BL CHAPTER XV. DETENTION AT KASHGHAR—continued. Beauty of Chinese Women —The Koorbin Eed— White Ants in Kash- ghar — Dancing Dervishes— Price of Tea— Continuation of Kangra Rajpoot’s Autobiography — Abolition of Slave Trade by the Atalik- Ghazee —Calmik Bow and Arrows — Bookshops in KAshghar — English and Franks— The Traveller's Impatience rebuked —- Mbo- miai—Interview with the King — His improved knowledge about England and the Queen—Parting Presents— Third Visit to the King — His Departure for Yang-hissfr .. «6. 0 ee ve BBL Cc XIV CONTENTS, CHAPTER XVI. FROM KASHGHAR BACK TO YARKAND AND STAY THERE. View of the Mountains— ‘The Toorkee Cart — Wheelbarrows — Snowy Mountains — Yang-hissir; and Various Pictures of the People— Soldiers — Parting Interview with the King— Ghoolim Kadir the Interpreter — Presents for the Queen — Chinese Paintings — Weather Charmers — Stereoscope — Compressed Tea — Hindu Prejudices and Dangerous Jest — Arrival at Yarkand —'The Chihil Sitoon, a Relic of Antiquity, between Kashghar and Khokand —,Density of Population in Yarkand — Particulars about Khoten — The Sarikol Lake not recog- nized — Note from Hayward — Ghoolfm Kadir, and his Recollections of Conolly — Mutilation of Criminals — A Stereoscope from the Bazar — Horse-eating — Gold of Khoten— Treatment of Horses — The Palampoor Fair— Punishment for using False Weights— The Maha- raja of Cashmere as a British Feudatory — Execution — Murder of Schlagintweit — Preparations for Departure .. .. .. .. Page 364 CHAPTER XVII RETURN FROM YARKAND TO INDIA. Departure from Yarkand — Hayward joins Company — River Tishnaf — Fertile Country — Halt at Kargalik — Bokhara Persian — Musical Entertainment — Stony Desert — Valley — Oasis of Bora — Sand-hills —The Beg of Khoten— The Yoozbashee’s Courtship — Hayward’s Observations — Choochoo Pass — Chitral Slave Trade — Kirghiz Huts — Notes on Kanjoot and the Pamir Regions — Final Parting with the Yoozbashee at the Sanjoo Pass — Reach the Karakash — Kuen Luen and Karakoram Ranges — Sources of Yarkand River — The Karakorum Pass and Range — Mortality among Beasts of Burden — Great Mer de Glace at Source of the Shayok — Antelopes — Lake-'l'erraces — Quick- sands — Glaciers — Dangerous Passage of the Shayok, and Perils of the Sasser Pass — Return to British Territory ., .. .. .. 411 CHAPTER XVIII NATIVE OPINIONS RESPECTING INDIA. The Moonshee and Hindu Servants — Talk about India — Social Customs in India— Infanticide —The Moonshee’s Family — State of India before British Rule— Distinction between Matters of Religion and Worldly Matters — Estimation of the Koran in practical Life — Bribery in the District Law-Courts of India — Native Officials — Paucity of English Judges — Evils of frequent change of Officials in India — Caste a social Custom in India, totally unconnected with Religion — Similar Distinctions in Europe .. .. .. .. ) 4, 487 CONTENTS. xv CHAPTER XIX. SUMMARY OF CHARACTERISTICS OF TOORKISTAN. Saint’s Bridge at Yarkand— Rivers and Streams—Size of the City of Yarkand— Population of Yarkand— Defences of Yarkand and Kashghar — Streets and Bazdrs — Game— Cookery — Buying and Selling — Coinage — Education — Administration of Justice — Modes of Punishment — Prisoners of War— Handicraftsmen and Labourers —The Army — Price of Provisions — Value of Land — Taxation — Climate, Dust Storms, and Earthquakes — Mineral Productions: Jade, Copper, Iron, Lead, and Gold — Measures of Distance — Costume of Women .. .. ee ete te te tenet Page 459 APPENDIX A RR te ak rae Da eae ke, GER ee eee oa ABE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Peak In THE Kuen-Lun Rance .. Earrine (Vignette).. Bazirz or Len (Lapir) TarTaR SADDLE .. «wee Heap or AwntELorr (New Srscizs) APPROACH TO YARKAND .. Frontispiece. in Title. to face page 11 +» page 153 » 169 to face page 174 CaRPENTER’S MEASURE .. page 200 Powper Horn .. » 280 Exxcurionrer’s Kynire » 296 ORNAMENTED Frnt... .. 3, Bal Nicur Inrerview with THE ATALIK-GHAzmE .. .. ., to face page 354 View or KisuGuar, AND THE MOUNTAINS WHICH DIVIDE IT FROM THE Russian PossessiONS «ww ke ee 365 Mer pe Guace at THE Source or Tur Saayox RIVER IN THE Kararoram Mountains wae Gites Uae ee sea keel 432 ar ” INUNDATION CAUSED BY THE MELTING or A GLACIER... 434 ” Mar or Yarkanp AND KAsucoaR .. «. .. ww, at the End. TRAVELS IN HIGH TARTARY. CHAPTER L INTRODUCTORY. The Author's settlement in the Himalaya— Interest attracted to the ‘lrans-Himalayan Region — General Physical Relations of Tibet and the Himalaya— The Regions beyond Tibet; hitherto inaccessable — Murder of A. Schlagintweit — Johnson’s Visit to Khoten — The Author’s Preliminary Visit to Ladak—The Table-Land of Tibet; its Cold Blasts ; its Villages and their Inhabitants — Lamas — The Town of Leh (Ladak) — Meeting with Toorkee Merchants — Their Gratitude for Advantages obtained through Dr. Cayley — Return from Ladak to Kangra— Hardships in the Bara Lacha Pass — Preparations for a Journey into Eastern Toorkistan— Adoption of the Mercantile Cha- racter —Moonshee Diwan Baksh engaged as confidential Agent and Forerunner. For several years I had been established in the Kangra Valley, under the snowy Himalaya. Re- peated shooting expeditions into the mountains, extended as far as Cashmeer, had initiated me in the art of Asiatic travel. Here, on the outskirts of India, the interest is naturally attracted to the mysterious regions which exist beyond the great mountain rampart that bounds the whole northern side of that empire. Explorers find that, in what- ever part of its length that boundary is attacked from the south, they have first to cross a wide ex- tent of mountainous country, often consisting of high parallel ranges divided by great rivers (both ranges and rivers running longitudinally in the same direction as the entire chain), and that finally g/ . 2 PHYSICAL FEATURES OF TIBET. Cuap. I. they reach a high barren plateau, supported on the outer ranges, as on a series of walls. This high barren plateau is Tibet, which extends behind the whole length of the Himalayas, and is sup- ported by them. It has a natural division into Eastern and Western Tibet, drained respectively by the Sampoo' and the Indus rivers, which rise close together, and run away from one another, the former eastward, and the latter westward, for many hundred miles. They finally both break through the mountains to the southward, and run into the sea, embracing the whole of Northern India between them. The identity of the Sampoo and the Brahmapootra seems sufficiently well established to warrant the above rough description. Imagine a wall supporting behind it a high terrace of gravel; suppose this gravel terrace to be hog- backed in the middle, so that the waters rising there run away to the right and to the left till they each find a low place in the wall and escape away through it. This is the relation which Tibet and its rivers and the Himalayan chain bear to one another. But what lies beyond, on the further side of the barren gravel terrace ? Is it supported on that side also by a wall of mountains, or does it slope gradually down to the general level, or does it stretch away for any great distance at the same high elevation, and with the same barren character ? These speculations assumed a marvellous attraction 1 The river of Eastern Tibet is known tous by thisname. But really the word “Sampoo” signifies “River” in the Tibetan language, and therefore the Indus in Western Tibet has just as much claim to tiie title as the other, Ixrrop. UNKNOWN REGION BEYOND LADAK. 3 as one gazed up at the mighty wall behind which their mysteries lay hid. They were nourished by the appearance of those natives of Ladak, Zanskar, &c., waifs and strays from the nearer and more ap- proachable districts of Western Tibet (part of the country I have represented as the gravel terrace), who are to be seen every year in the Kangra Valley. Black tents of peculiar make appear for a few days at a time in the winter on open spaces by the roadsides, and shelter dingy families of narrow-eyed Tibetans—petty traders, who come down with their wares. They are not prepossess- ing in appearance, with their high cheek-bones, their dirt, and their long pig-tails. But they are the most good-tempered of mortals, and they always greet you with a grin. Moreover, every year the few English sportsmen who penetrate into the wilder parts of Ladak bring down reports of the wonderful animals to be found there, and ef the curious customs of the Booddhist inhabitants. Wild sheep as large as ponies, wild cattle with bushy tails like horses and long hair on their flanks reaching nearly to the ground, besides antelopes and gazelles, are to be obtained by those who toil sufficiently ; while, for non-sportsmen, the curious monasteries perched on almost inaccessible rocks, with their Romish ceremonial, their prayer- wheels, their gigantic images, and ancient manu- scripts, form the chief attraction. But while Ladak was thus tolerably well known, though situate at the distance of nearly a month’s march across the mountains, the region beyond it seemed to combine all the attractions of mystery B 2 4 INSECURITY OF LIFE. Cuap. I. and of remoteness. Some few native traders had been known to penetrate to the distant marts of Yarkand, and even Kashghar, and they brought back frightful tales of toil endured and of perils escaped. Men’s lives were there said to be of no more account than sheep’s, and few traders ever dared to repeat the venture. Rumours of rebellion in those regions also reached India. The subject Moghuls, a Mussulman race, were said to have risen and mas- sacred their Chinese masters, and to have established the independence of the “Land of the Six Cities,” as they called the country which is shown in our maps as Chinese Tartary. On turning to European books for information regarding this region, one finds more of romance than of history. This is the country of Little Bucharia, whose sovereign, immortalised by Moore, obtained Lalla Rookh for his bride. The brothers Michell, in their book ‘ The Russians in Central Asia,’ report of it as follows :— . “ Our ignorance of the region in question has long been made a matter of reproach to us, and our know- ledge, ‘chiefly conjectural,’ has been stigmatised as a disgrace to science, ‘owing to its wretched state of imperfection.” It would, perhaps, puzzle those who thus readily impeach the energy which has already sacrificed so many valuable lives in this very country if we were to ask them to devise means for throw- ing open to Anglo-Saxon enterprise a country where emphatically every man carries his life in his hand. Something more is required to prove courage or conduct than to exclaim ‘Fool!’ or ‘Coward!’ as each successive traveller recoils before the hardships Iwrrop. JOHNSON’S VISIT TO KHOTEN. 5 and dangers of a journey through Little Bok- hara.” One sad instance of this insecurity of life was more particularly brought to the mind of dwellers in the Kangra Valley. In 1857, Adolph Schlagintweit, the great German traveller, passed up by that route to Eastern Toorkistén (as I shall henceforward call the region in question), where he was murdered by the chief, Wallé Khan, who was then besieging the Chinese garrison of Kashghar. From the Kangra Valley he had taken several servants, who afterwards returned to their homes with the melancholy news. All this, as may be imagined, added unspeakably to the interest with which we regarded the huge snowy wall which forms the first barrier between us and that mysterious land, which Marco Polo had been almost the only European to visit. Attracted towards this region in 1867, I extended my usual yearly excursion as far as Ladak. My companion and I were anxious to meet those caravans from Central Asia which annually come to Western Tibet. We wished to make acquaintance with the merchants, and were prepared, if we saw a chance, to go on as far as Khoten, a small Mussulman princi- pality, an outlier of Toorkistan, situate under the mountains which bound Ladak on the north. The chief of Khoten had, in 1865, very hospitably received Mr. Johnson, an officer of the English Survey, who was then employed in the neighbouring mountains. We hoped to experience a similar reception, could we secure the support of some merchant of note, who might act as our introducer, These hopes were, however, frustrated by the news 6 TIBETAN TABLE-LAND: Cuar. I. which met us en route, that the little principality of Khoten had been invaded, and its chief killed by Yakoob Beg, the new ruler of Kashghar and Yarkand. This intelligence of the events which had taken place during the preceding winter, was brought over by the first party who crossed the mountains after their release from the snows of winter and the floods of spring. We persevered, however, in visiting Ladak, and were well repaid by the novelty of the scenes which we beheld. After leaving the narrow fir-crowned gorges, the precipitous cliffs and the glacier-passes of the real Himalaya, we entered upon the vast table-land of Tibet in the district called Roopshoo; which, however, reminds one at first sight of the British soldier’s remark about Abyssinia: “Well, if it is a table, it is a table with all the legs uppermost.” Lying at an elevation equal to that of Mont Blanc, this plateau consists of broad valleys without water, which seem a few hundred yards wide, and are really plains of many miles in extent. On either side arise rolling mountains of all shades of red, yellow, and black; the rock occasionally cropping out near the summit to break the uniformity of the long shingly slopes of débris. Everything is bare gravel, both mountains and plains. Not a glimpse of verdure is to be seen, save in some slight depression where the eye at a distance catches a faint yellow gleam along the ground, which a nearer approach shows to be the effect of some scattered blades of a harsh and prickly grass, piercing up through the gravel like so many discoloured porcupine quills. When IntRop. ITS COLD BLASTS. 7 you begin to despair of finding those great tra- veller’s requisites, water and wood, your guide will lead you into a recess of the hills, where a small stream derived from some distant snow-bed far up the hill-sides, has given rise, before disappearing under the gravel, to a thicket of brushwood two or three feet high, and where groups of shallow pits, surrounded by loose stone walls, each with its rough fireplace in the middle, point out where the wandering tribes of Tibetans occasionally pitch their tents. If you are wise, you will take ad- vantage of these sheltering side-walls, low and creviced though they be, for suddenly, in the after- noon, there will arise a terrific blast of deadly cold wind which will numb all the life in your body under a dozen covers, if it strike you. The Tibetan traveller cares for no roof overhead if he can shelter himself from the wind behind a three-foot high wall. Hence the numerous little stone enclosures clustered together like cells of a honeycomb at every halting- place, with one side always raised against the prevail- ing wind. While thus sheltering himself from the cold of the afternoon, the traveller will scarcely believe he is in the same country where in the morn- ing he was guarding against sunstroke, and nearly blinded by the insufferable glare.’ It is a terribly unsatisfactory country to travel in. On those endless plains you never seem to arrive anywhere. For 1 ‘This fact confirms a note in Rawlinson’s ‘ Herodotus,’ where instances are adduced in support of the old historian’s idea, that in the Eastern parts of the world the mornings are hotter than the afternoons. Herodotus would explain this by supposing the sun to be nearer the Eastern regions (over which he rises) in the morning, and nearer the Western regions in the evening. Of course, the real cause is purely local. 8 TIBETAN TABLE-LAND : Cuar. I. hours you march towards the same point of the com- pass, seeing ever the same objects in front of you. If you discover another party of travellers coming towards you in the distance, you may travel for half a day before you meet them. The air is so clear that there is no perspective; everything appears in one plane, and that close to the eyes. When, after threading these interminable valley-plains, you de- scend again towards the inhabited country of Ladak, the first bits of village cultivation seen on an op- posite hill-side have a most singular effect. “Cela vous saute aux yeux.” They seem to come right out of the surrounding landscape of desert, and to meet you with almost painful distinctness. Imagine patches out of the best cultivated parts of England, dropped here and there into a parched and howling waste of mountains, such as one might imagine the Atlas to be, or such as Aden is; and this under an Italian sky, with an atmosphere which acts like a telescope, bringing the most minute and distant objects into notice. No gradations of verdure; each bit of cultivation is as distinctly defined from the surrounding desert hill-side as if it had been actually cut out by measurement from another country and dropped there. Approaching the village, you pass a long, low, broad wall, covered with flat stones, inscribed with sacred sentences in two different styles of the Tibetan character. This is a “Mané,” and not a village is without several of them. At each end there is probably a “Chorten,” in form a large square pedestal, surmounted by a huge inverted tea-pot, all whitewashed ; while crowning all is a InrRop. ITS VILLAGES AND INHABITANTS. 9 small wooden globe or crescent supported on a sort of obelisk. These erections, varying from ten to twenty feet in height, are supposed to contain the remains of sainted Lamas, whose bodies have there been buried in a standing position. Little pigeon- holes at the sides are filled with numerous small medallions, looking like lava ornaments. They are moulded into wonderful figures of hundred-handed deities, venerated by this denomination of Bood- dhists, and are composed of clay, mixed with the ashes of other dead Lamas, who are thus, in a material sense, transformed at death into the image of their gods, On reaching one of these structures, the devout Tibetan invariably passes it on his right; hence the road here always bifurcates to allow of this being done both by goers and by comers. The scattered houses of the village are flat-roofed, two-storied, built of huge sun-dried bricks, with walls sloping considerably inwards, and finished off with brilliant white and red stucco over the doors and windows. On the roofs are generally small piles of horns (either of wild animals or of domestic sheep and goats) stuck all over with small flags and rags of coloured cotton. Fierce-looking black “yaks” (the cattle of Tibet) with their bushy tails, and long hair hanging below their knees, and giving them a petticoated appearance, graze about the fields or grunt discon- tentedly as they are led in by the nose to carry the traveller’s baggage. They are generally conducted by the women, who wear red and blue petticoats with the stripes disposed up and down, cloth boots’ gar- tered up to the knee, tight-fitting jackets covered. 10 THE LAMAS. Crap. L with a sheepskin cape (hair inwards), sometimes lined with scarlet cloth, bare heads with curious cloth lappets protecting both ears from the bitter wind, and, above all, a “ perak,” their most precious orna- ment, consisting of a broad strip of leather hanging down the back from the top of the head, and sown all over with rows of large false turquoises gradually dwindling away to single stones near the tip. The men, beardless all, wear similar cloth boots, thick woollen frocks girt round the waist and just reaching below the top of the legging’s, and on their pig-tailed head a kind of black Phrygian cap, like an English drayman’s, of which the hanging end serves a variety of purposes, being brought down either to shade the eyes from the sun or to shelter either ear from the cold blasts of the afternoon. Amongst the group collected to stare at the traveller there is generally a Lama, dressed in a red robe which allows one arm and shoulder to be bare, as is also the head. In his hand he carries a prayer- cylinder, which he whirls round on its wooden handle by an almost imperceptible motion of the hand, aided by a string and small weight attached to it, and assisting the rotation. Perched on some neighbouring pinnacle, or jammed against the vertical face of some rock, is the Lama’s monastery. .Such is a Tibetan village without a tree except a few stunted willows along the life-giving water-courses ; while all above, to the very edge, is a howling wilderness of gravel, with no signs of man’s exist- ence. In the broad valley of the Upper Indus, which constitutes Ladak, the villages in places extend con- st 1 gE ae oy Nay BAZAR OF LEH (LADAK), With View in the Distunce of the Range Sonth of the indus by Dr. Henderson From a Photcgraph Page 11 Invrop. TOORKEE MERCHANTS. 11 tinuously for several miles. The crops are here wonderfully luxuriant, and the climate is milder, the elevation being only 11,000 feet. The town of Leh itself is nestled under the hills, at a distance from the river of some four miles up a long gentle gravelly slope. Arriving here, I was preparing to study the Tibetan manners and customs more attentively, but the first walk through the town at once dispelled all the rather contemptuous interest which I had begun to take in the people of the place, by introducing a greater interest in lieu thereof. For stalking about: the streets, or seated in silent rows along the bazaar, were to be seen men of a different type from those around. Their large white turbans, their beards, their long and ample outer robes, reaching nearly to the ground, and open in front showing a shorter under-coat girt at the waist, their heavy riding boots of black leather, all gave them an imposing air; while their dignified manners, so respectful to others, and yet so free from Indian cringing or Tibetan buffoonery, made them seem like men among monkeys compared with the people around them. Perhaps it was partly the thought of their myste- rious home which imparted to these Toorkee mer- chants such a halo of interest. Visitants from a world of hitherto forbidden access to all others, these very men must have witnessed the tremendous vengeance which, like a second Sicilian Vespers, had recently consigned 50,000 invaders to a violent death. They had probably themselves taken part in the massacre of the Chinese idolaters. Their eyes must be quite accustomed to the wholesale executions which were 12 YARKANDEE PILGRIM. Cuar. I. said to be of daily occurrence in those distracted regions. Their ancestors, right back to the time of Tamerlane and Chenghiz Khan, must have taken part in those convulsions which, originating in Central Asia, have been felt even in the distant West. When we began to make their acquaintance, their disposition seemed hardly to correspond with the terrific character which was ascribed to their com- patriots. They came and sat with us in our tents, and talked in a friendly way with us through an interpreter, sipping our tea the while with great gusto, despite the horror-stricken looks of our Indian Mussulmans who are so far Hindooised as to con- sider such an act a breach of caste. Our guests were essentially “ good-fellows,” able to enjoy a joke and give one in return, talking freely, and yet never stepping beyond the proper limit. They seemed to respect both themselves and those they conversed with, and when they rose, they took their leave with the deferential bows of a courtier. In colour they were scarcely darker than Europeans, with red lips and ruddy faces. On our first arrival a man approached me dressed in a felt wide-awake, a long flowered dressing-gown and high riding-boots. His beard and moustache were light brown, his face quite fair, and he stared me in the face like an Englishman. Iwas on the point of addressing him as one, when he turned aside and sat down by my Mussulman servants. He was a Yarkandce “Hajjee” or pilgrim ! They took to the English at once, but their hearts were quite won over when Dr. Cayley, the new Inrnop. A FISCAL DIFFICULTY OVERCOME. 13 British Resident at Leh, was able to announce to them a considerable reduction in the duties. It appeared that, some years before, the Cashmeer Maharaja, in whose territory Ladak lies, had en- tered into engagements with the Supreme Power, the British Government, to reduce his enormous custom duties to five per cent. for merchants trading between India and Central Asia. As usual, this engagement was nowhere carried out, and after ‘re- peated remonstrances, our Government was obliged to depute an officer to Ladak, for the purpose of watching its execution, Dr. Cayley was the first appointed to this post, and he at once reported to our Government that the reduction of duties was systematically disregarded by the Cashmeer officials. On the details being brought officially to the know- ledge of the Maharaja, orders were sent up to Ladak to remedy this state of things, and this time these orders were attended to, as there was a British officer to watch over their execution. I happened to be in the town of Leh at the moment when this was pub- licly proclaimed, and the gratitude of the Yarkandee merchants was vented in the first instance on me, in my character of an Englishman. I received from them a small ovation, until I succeeded in carry- ing off all my friends in procession to the house of the British Resident, outside the town, to whom their thanks were really due. We spent nearly a month here studying the characteristics of the Toorkees, learning all we could about their country and its rulers, and paving the way for an expedition next year. At last we started back, late in October, from Ladak, and were but just 14 A BIVOUAC IN THE SNOW. Cuar. T. in time by forced marches to cross the Bara Lacha Pass before it was closed for the season by the snow. Here we had the misfortune to lose two Hindoostanee servants, who lingered behind, and, finally over- powered by cold, sat down with the apathy of their race to die. Our party being much scattered, and bivouacking in different places that night, we did not know of their absence till it was too late to save them. Their bodies were found crouched togther, and rifled by the Tibetan yak-drivers. I shall never forget that night’s bivouac on the snow. As soon as the horse carrying the brush- wood fuel came up (it was past 12 o’clock at night), we two Englishmen made shift to light a fire against a rock, clearing away the snow for the purpose. At- tracted by this, a Sikh merchant who was crossing the pass the same day, came and sat down with us. His long black beard and moustache were covered with pendant icicles which dragged down the hair by their weight. His face was haggard, and his only thought seemed to be of the fire. I presently found a bottle of rum, and was proceeding to uncork it, when he looked round, laid his hand on my shoulder, and said earnestly : “ I am partner in that.” I laughed, and gave him some, and it seemed to re- vive him, for he began to bewail his fate. He was travelling quickly with all his wealth in a portable form, carried on five lightly laden horses. One, the most valuable, he was in the habit of leading himself as he rode. He now told me that, finding his hand getting frozen by holding the leading rope, he had cast this treasure-laden animal adrift in the pass, and did not know what had become of him. On his own Ixrrop. VALLEY OF KOOLOO. 15 horse he had carried a parcel of valuable silks. This had slipped off a few hundred yards back, but he had not had the energy to dismount and pick it up. To those who know the nature of Indian merchants, such neglect will speak volumes of the state to which he must have been reduced. I advised him for the future to take our example, and walk instead of riding when the cold was so great, assuring him that we had been comfortably warm all the time. But I must add, in explanation, that our style of clothing had somewhat contributed to this. We wore each of the usual articles of dress about fourfold, besides a huge fur robe and a lambskin cap tying below the chin. I may add that our friend, Tara Sing the Sikh, recovered his treasures, for one of my servants, a hill- man, who was coming behind, finding a stray horse in the pass, caught him and brought him on. After experiencing such cold as this, and march- ing across treeless wastes for so long, it may be imagined with what pleasure we descended our last pass, the Rotang, and looked down upon the magni- ficent deodar forests and the green valley of Kooloo, one of the hill states attached to the Kangra district. As soon as we reached the beginning of the forests, intersected by a good mule road picturesquely wind- ing through the shades, and crossing delightful little torrents of clear water by rude wooden bridges, in a climate which seemed to us spring after our winter, we lay down to enjoy the first glimpse of such wonders. We were surprised in this position by an English officer from the Kangra Valley, who was out on a shooting excursion. He at first quite refused to recognise us, and it was not till we had spoken to 16 ADOPTION OF THE MERCANTILE CHARACTER. Cnar. I. him several times in English that he overcame his first impression of our being Yarkandee merchants. In fact, on looking in our glasses afterwards, we found our faces were quite black from the glare of the snow, while our long fur robes and Tibetan boots must have completed the illusion.. On arriving back in the Kangra Valley, I set my- self in earnest to prepare for next year’s expedition. My companion, unfortunately, was not able to join me again, so I continued my preparations alone. Putting together the information acquired, it seemed that the only chance was to go up in the character of a merchant. Asiatics who travel do so from one of three motives, and they can understand no other. Their journeys are either religious, commercial, or political. They will cross the whole continent to visit a shrine ; they will peril their lives on a trading trip; and envoys are constantly threading their way from one distant Chief to another. From the first and the last pleas I was debarred. I was determined to go as an Englishman, and, as such, I could have no religious attraction in Central Asia; nor could I obtain any official recognition from our Government as a motive for the journey. Yet I was convinced that the favourable moment had now arrived for opening intercourse with Eastern Toorkistan. It is needless to give my reasons for this belief here; they will appear in the sequel. So I determined to adopt the third and only remaining character, and go as a merchant, and the rather that this would give me an excellent opportu- nity of discovering the state of the Central Asian market and what promise it afforded to English Intron. ANXIETY TO AVOID SUSPICION. 17 trade, especially with regard to the disposal of Indian tea, in which I had a personal interest. This com- mercial information, if I could obtain it, would be a most valuable result of my journey, for with half- barbarous nations trade is the only bond of union. I might thus hope to establish permanent com- munication with Central Asia, which the mere casual transit of an English traveller would never accomplish. It then became a question whether I should add surveying to my programme. Eastern Toorkistan is a blank on our maps as far as any real knowledge of it goes. All the details are conjectural.’ It would therefore be highly important to have it properly sur- veyed and mapped. But I asked myself, Is not this attempting too much? The chances, as everyone says, are incalculably against the success of the ex- pedition on any terms. Why add to the difficulties such a formidable one as this? Surveying is the very thing that barbarous nations are so fearful and jealous of. Nor is it only barbarous nations that have this feeling. The most civilised people of Europe would be affronted if they discovered that a secret survey of their country was being made by emis- saries of a foreign power. If my expedition is ship- wrecked on this rock, the entrance to Central Asia will be blocked up for many a year to come. Suspicion of the English, now happily non-existent, will be engendered; and the chance of a future 1 Always excepting the labours of Major Montgomerie’s native explorers, who had penetrated to Yarkand, Cc 18 A VENTURE FOR YARKAND. Guar. T: survey as well as all the more legitimate objects of my journey will be frustrated. On the other hand, if this first and most critical expedition turns out well; if they see that the first Englishman whom they have ever admitted into their country shows no disquieting curiosity to learn too much ; if they find that no more evil results from his visit than from that of an Asiatic merchant: there is reason to hope that they may relax their suspicions and allow freer access to future travellers. Then, when they have learned that we have no evil inten- tions against them, will be the time to take observa- tions and rectify our maps. After all, we do not desire to know a country in order to map it, but we map it in order to know it. It would be sacrificing the end to the means were I to correct our maps at the expense of our future intercourse, and to explore Eastern Toorkistan in such a manner as to shut it against all future explorers. I therefore determined to confine myself to a prismatic compass, which might pass as harmless even if seen, and to eschew all such more elaborate instruments as would both compromise me by their appearance and tempt me to imprudence in their use. In order to carry out my intention of going in the character of a merchant, I made arrangements with an enterprising firm in Calcutta to send up a venture of goods, chosen in such a way as seemed most suit- able for the Yarkand market. Presents also, chiefly in the shape of firearms, had to be bought, for in Asia nothing can be done Intron. DIWAN BAKHSH. 19 without the interchange of gifts. I trusted chiefly to these to unlock the door for me, purposing to send up some confidential messenger in front of me, who should present the king and his chiefs with gifts in my name, informing them that I was. myself following with more valuable ones which I hoped to make over in person. It seemed as if this course afforded the best hope of success, by appealing to their cupidity while at the same time disarming their suspicions by frankly announcing my coming beforehand. My confidential messenger I found in the person of Diwan Bakhsh, a Mussulman who had formerly been in my service as Moonshee, or writer, and was now occupying some petty post under Government. His family had always been in the service of the Mussulman Rajahs of Rajaoree; but the Maharaja of Cashmeer had annexed Rajaoree during the disorder which succeeded our Sikh Wars, and the deposed Rajah is now a pensioner on the bounty of the British Government. He has had by degrees to part with most of his followers. Diwan Bakhsh and his brothers were accordingly cast loose on the world a few years ago to earn their own bread. In conse- quence of his origin, Diwan Bakhsh is better educated than most of the class of moonshees amongst whom he has taken his place, knowing Persian well and Arabic slightly. He is, besides, accustomed to the etiquette and ways of a native court. These qualifi- cations pointed him out as a fitting man for my purpose, especially as he would leave a wife and family in the Kangra Valley dependent on his return for their future subsistence; a satisfactory c 2 20 ENGAGEMENT OF DIWAN BAKHSH. Caar. I. pledge for his good behaviour when I should be at his mercy among his co-religionists. Him, therefore, I engaged, after many doubts and hesitations on his part, to go forward and prepare the way for me at Yarkand, For the first part of the journey, however, he was to accompany me. Cuap, II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE, 21 CHAPTER II. THE TRIBES OF TOORKISTAN AND TARTARY. Characteristics of the People of Eastern Toorkistan — “ 'lartarised Aryans” — The original Inhabitants probably of Aryan Blood — Last Relic of these in Sarikol— 'Toork and Tajik; Kirghiz and Sart — The People of Badakhshan ; and of Wakhan — The Oozbeks —The Kipchaks — The Toorkmans — The Kazaks — The Kara-Kalpaks — The Kirghiz — Their Mahammadanism; Settlers in Eastern Toorkistan; Cashmeerees; Baltees; Badakhshees — The Thian-Shan; Kalmaks — The Great Desert ; the Doolans — Zungaria — The ‘l'oonganees; alleged Etymo- logy of the Name, and Origin of the People — The Taranchees, Kansoo, Charchand, and its mention by Marco Polo—Zilm, and its approximate Position — The Talkas. Tse inhabitants of Eastern Toorkistén are very far from being pure Tartars. Compared with the no- madic Kirghiz, and even with the more civilized and mixed tribe of Oozbeks, the men of Yarkand have a decidedly Aryan look.’ They are tall and somewhat gaunt (resembling the typical American as depicted in caricatures, or even 1 This fact does not seem inconsistent with what we lear from ancient authors. The Sake apparently inhabited this region (Rawlin- son’s ‘ Herodotus,’ App., Bk. VII, Essay I., § viii.), and they are always mentioned by Herodotus in connection with the Bactrians, an Aryan people; and by Strabo (Bk. XI., chap. vi., § 2; chap. viii., §§ 2, 8) in connection with the Massagete, another Aryan people. The fact that the Saka are classed among the Scythian tribes does not prove their Turanian origin, when another tribe of Scythians (those inhabit- ing what is now the South of Russia) have been proved to be Arians by their language (Rawlinson’s ‘ Herodotus,’ vol. iii., App., Bk. IV., Essay II.) ; and since moreover the term Scyth is probably not a real ethnic name. (Strabo says: “The ancient Greek historians called all the nations towards the North by the common name of Scythians and Kelto-Scythians.”) The picture of a Scythian captive from the Behistun sculptures given in Rawlinson’s ‘ Herodotus,’ vol. iv. p. 53, has a very full beard and other decidedly Aryan features, 22 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. Cap. IT. portraits, of the late President Lincoln). They have long-shaped faces, well-formed noses, and full beards. This description applies to the ordinary Yarkand peasant or villager. The stunted-looking Kirghiz, on the contrary, have narrow eyes, high cheek-bones, thick depressed noses, with no more hair on their face than an ariinees Chinaman. Even the Oozbeks are seldom seen with beards, having generally only a few straggling hairs at the corners of the mouth, and on the chin. Those who have more than this—and they are few—owe it I fancy to the infusion of Tajik blood, having lived long in Bokhara and Khokand among people of that race. I think these facts show that the modern YAr- kandees are not pure Tartars like the Kirghiz,’ or even Aryanized Tartars like some of the Oozbeks, but rather Tartarized Aryans, if I may so express myself, This could only arise from the early popu-_ lation having been Aryan, for we know that no immigration of that race has taken place since the period of the Tartar invasions. The fact that the name of Khoten (and perhaps several other names) has been derived by eminent authority from an Aryan source, also points to the fact of an early occupation of the country by Aryan inhabitants. From the Chinese annals it is gathered that about the middle of the second century B.c. a tribe of Tartars called the Yoochee, being pressed upon by other Tartar tribes on their North-east, advanced into 1 The Kirghiz I believe to be purely Turtays, but very mixed as regards the several branches of that race. Cuap, IT. *“TARTARIZED ARYANS.” 23 Yarkand and KAshghar, driving out the original in- habitants. It may be gathered that these original inhabitants were by no means entirely expelled, to judge from the strong infusion of Aryan blood which, as I have said, is still noticeable in the population of these provinces. Those that emigrated before the Tartars must have been at first pushed up against the Pamir Mountains and Steppes, a huge wall running North and South, and dividing them from the country to the West until they overflowed that boundary, and poured into the valleys which lead down to the Oxus and the plains of Bokhara, which they would find occupied by men of a kindred race to themselves. Up to the present day, however, one small remnant of them which hesitated to cross the mountains was left cooped up in the valleys of the Sarikol district East of the Pamir, and in the corner between it and the Mustak Range. This last relic of the Trans- Pamir Aryans has within the last two years been removed from its resting-place; the Atalik-Ghazee having transplanted the whole tribe (consisting of not more than 1000 or 1500 individuals), after the manner of Hastern conquerors, as they caused him continual trouble. Some of these captives I saw at Kashghar, and have since been informed that none are now left in Sarikol, where Kirghiz immigrants from the North have replaced this ancient Aryan _ people. They speak a dialect of Persian mixed with Toorkee words, few and far between, but without any apparent admixture from the Dardoo languages to their South. Beyond the Sarikol district, and across the Pamir 24 LANGUAGE OF THE INHABITANTS. Cuap, IT. Range, another portion of the escaping Aryan popu- lation halted and settled down in the high valley of Wakhan at the head-waters of the Oxus. The other gorges by which the high plateau of Pamir drains westward are also partly occupied by people of this race, and partly by wandering Kirghiz with their cattle. It is of course difficult, in our present state of knowledge, to say where the tide of immigrants from the East ceases in these valleys, and which of them ‘had already at the time of the migration been occu- pied by men from the plains to the westward, as both populations were of the same race. It is enough to have traced the fugitives from Yarkand up to the Pamir and across it.’ Those who were left behind must have gradually blended with their Tartar conquerors, giving them their features, but receiving from them their language. This need excite no surprise. It is not uncommon for a nation to adopt another language in the East. A remarkable instance is that of the Hazarahs, North of Afghanistan. They would be selected as types of the Tartar race, so fully do their physical charac- teristics agree with their real lineage. Yet their language is Persian at the present day. If pure Tartars thus talk Persian, we need not hesitate to accept the fact that the Toorkee-speaking Yarkandees 1 Tt is said that the language of Wakhan differs from that of Badakh- shan and of the Tajiks of Bokhara, which is nearly pure Persian, by the presence of many words resembling those of Sanscrit or Takree. This, if true, would make the Wakhanee language of much interest as being a relic of a distinct and very early branch of the Indo-Germanic tongue, spoken by the Aryan race on first issuing from the Aria-~Veja or even in that earliest seat of the race, and before it had divided into the two great, branches, the Vedic and the Zendic. Cuar. IL TOORK AND TAJIK. 25 have a very large proportion of Aryan blood in their veins. The Tartar invasion, which incorporated with itself the Aryans Hast of the Pamir, only succeeded in con- quering those to the West. While the people of Yarkand and Kashghar are an apparently homo- geneous race, the Bokhariots and Khokandees are divided into subject Tajiks and dominant Toorks. Of course the great commercial cities on both sides are the resort of men of all tribes, many of whom have: _ settled there with their families. But the mass of the people in the East do not differ among themselves. ° They do not‘call themselves by the name of this or that particular tribe. They are simply Yarkandees or Kashgharees. In fact Eastern Toorkistan seems to have been a kind of reservoir into which the various floods of Tartar invaders poured. Whenever it be- came full to the brim it overflowed into the Western plains. But there the successive waves formed for themselves distinct channels in which they have been content to stay; or rather they flow like oil upon water, instead of mixing together like water and wine. In Western Toorkistan a man is a Tajik or an Oosbek, or a Kipchak, or a Toorkman in addition to being simply a Bokhariot or a Khokandee. Among these various tribes there are two great cross divisions. The first is the division of Toork and TasixK, or of Tartar and of Aryan blood. The other classification is that of nomads and settled people, Kirauiz and Sarts.* The former of these 1 The Russians, I see, mistake this classification, and confound it with the other, making Sarts to be merely the same as Tajiks (probably because the first Sarts or settled people whom they came across happened to be 26 THE BADAKHSHAN. Cuap. II. (who I believe are all Tartars) are of many different tribes,—Kazak, Kipchak, Kara-Kalpak, &c., besides the true Kirghiz, who are again subdivided into their various Hordes. The Sarts or settled people include the Aryan Tajiks as well as the Tartar Oosbeks and others. All over Bokhdra and, I believe, as far as the Syr Daria (or River Jaxartes) the Tajiks compose the mass of the population, the cultivators, the shop- keepers, and merchants, the writers, and sometimes are found as soldiers and even Governors. Beyond the Jaxartes in the Khanate of Khokand, the Tartar tide (so near its place of outpour) proved: too strong for them, and they are found more ‘sparsely, as merchants and writers, and even in higher employ, and not so much as cultivators and villagers. ‘This at least is the account given of their own country by the Andijénees and Khokandees in the service of the Ataligh-Ghazee at Kashghar and Yarkand. The Tasks are a very handsome race with high foreheads, full expressive eyes shaded by dark eye- lashes, thin delicately-formed noses, short upper lips and rosy complexions. Their beards are generally very large and full, and often of a brown and even sometimes of a reddish tinge. They differ from the high-caste men of Northern India, only in being more stoutly and strongly built, and in haying fuller faces. Their kinsmen the men of BapaKHSHAN bear even a closer resemblance to the Northern Indians, One Tajiks). They are wrong, however, for all the Khokandces whom I met with in Eastern Toorkistan agreed in affirming that Sart is merely a word used by the Kirghiz to denote all who do not lead a nomad existence like themselves, whether they be Tajiks or Oosbeks. Cnap. IT. THE WAKHANEES, 27 of them came to see me at Yarkand. Both my Moonshee and [ thought that he was a Cashmeeree by his appearance, and we made one of our men address him suddenly in the Cashmeer language to test his nationality ; but he evidently could not under- stand it. He told us in Persian that he was a Badakhshee, and we were afterwards convinced that he was speaking the truth. Now his Cashmeeree appearance is very interesting as showing the Aryan affinities of his nation. For the Cashmeerees form as well marked a type as that of the Jews. No one who has seen them would hesitate to swear to the nationality of one of them in a Court of Justice. Other Badakhshees that I saw approached them very much in appearance, but none so strikingly as this man, who actually, without any effort on his own part, deceived my Moonshee who has been born and bred among Cashmeerees. The WaxkuHANeEES (a small tribe of them has settled in the Kilian Valley near Sanjoo) partake of these characteristics, having also some of them light hazel-coloured eyes, as have also the SarIKOLEES whom I saw at Kashghar. But the rough life they lead in their highland valleys has given them a certain harshness of feature, as well as an asperity of character which contrasts with the good temper of their neighbours the Kirghiz. All these tribes talk varieties of the Persian lan-. guage, from the Bokhara Tajiks who boast, that their tongue is the oldest and purest form of Persian, to the Sarikolees and Wakhanees who have an incom- prehensible patois, compounded (so it is said) of words resembling both Sanscrit and Persian, and therefore 28 THE OOZBEKS: Cuar. II, possibly descended from the early form of speech which was the mother of both. So much for the pure Aryan races of Central Asia. The most civilized of the Tartar or Toork tribes? are the OozpeKs. They are now the ruling and military caste in the three Khanates of Khiva, Bok- hara, and Khokand. The Oozbeks must have been borne in upon a later wave of invasion from the East. Towards the end of the fourteenth century (a.D.) we hear of them from Timoor Lang in the early part of his Autobiography as being a heathen (non-Mussulman) tribe, located, together with the Jatta,? on the North of the River Jaxartes (that is, just at the exit from Eastern Toorkistan), who made frequent incursions and attempted conquests in the fertile province of Mawar-oon-Nahr (the kingdom of Bokhara) of which they are now masters (by per- mission of the Russians), and where they have be- come the most bigoted adherents of Islém. Their characteristics (in Khokand, at least, where they are probably purer in blood than their brethren who dwell among the Tajiks of Bokhara) are a modi- fied form of the Kirghiz features, viz., taller stature, a very little more hair on the face, which is longer and less squat-looking, and a less ugly cast of coun- tenance. Whether it be that the Tartars are so essen- tially a nomadic race that they begin to lose their distinctive characteristics when they settle down, or 1 T hope I may be forgiven for using these words interchangeably as the Central Asiatics do in practice. Their word Toork agrees with our word “Tartar” or “ Mongolian” in being a generic term. * Probably connected with the Massa-gete, who are mentioned by the early writers in this very region, Crap. II. ADMIXTURE OF TAJIK BLOOD. 29 whether it be that all the Oozbeks have now a cer- tain admixture of Tajik blood in their veins, it ig certain that they are less Tartar-like than the Kirghiz. That the former cause may have some effect in this direction is shown by the difference between the features of the nomadic Tibetans of Roopshoo and of their settled brethren in Ladak, who are undoubtedly and unmixedly of the same blood. The former are utterly hideous, possessing every form of ugliness, while the agricultural Tibetans have more regular features, though they are regularly ugly. With regard to the admixture of Tajik blood in the Oozbeks, this also is probable, considering that there is undoubtedly much Oozbek blood in some who call themselves Tajiks. The