People of Yarkund.
The Chinese of Yarkund interfere but little with the affairs of the country, and leaving it and its trade to the Mahommedan portion of the population, the authorities levy a duty of one in thirty; and their commercial regulations are just and equitable. The word of a Chinese is not doubted, nor does the tea ever differ in quality from the sample. The Mahommedans of Yarkund amount to about 12,000 families. They are Toorks, and speak a dialect of Toorkee that is perfectly intelligible to the natives of Bokhara. The country people are sometimes called Moghuls by those who live in cities; and from this may have originated our vague name of Mongolia. There are Calmuk Tartars settled around Eela and Yarkund, who have a singular custom to distinguish their chiefs and grandees, by fixing deer’s horns on their skull-caps. The size and beauty of the antlers mark the dignity, and are the red ribbons of a Calmuk Tartar. The laxity of their females, I am assured, entitles them to the honour of wearing such an ornament. The Chinese employ Calmuks in the protection of their frontier. The Mahommedans of Yarkund appear to differ from their brethren elsewhere, for the fair sex have a power and influence not known in other places. They take the seat of honour in a room, associate freely with the men, and do not veil; they wear high-heeled boots, richly ornamented; their head-dress is described as very handsome, being a high tiara of cloth; the features of the fair ones themselves are said to be most beautiful. When a Bokhara merchant visits Yarkund, he marries one of these beauties during his sojourn in the city; and the pair separate, as they joined, quite as a matter of convenience, when he leaves the country. Their wives are as cheap as beautiful, and purchased at a premium of two or three tillas (twelve or eighteen rupees); and the merchants, long after leaving the country, sing the praises of the fair ones of Yarkund. I could not discover what had given rise to their appearing without veils and being invested with such influence; but I congratulate them on two such infringements of Mahommedan usage. Besides the native Chinese, who frequent Yarkund, I am informed that Christian merchants, probably Armenians, also visit it from the eastward: they dress as Chinese.
Intercourse with Tibet.
The intercourse from Tibet and Bokhara is carried on by regulations that are truly energetic. The natives of these countries are not permitted to proceed beyond Yarkund and the neighbouring towns, and, as they enter the Chinese dominions, are placed under certain persons, who have a knowledge of the countries from which they come, and made responsible for their behaviour. So thoroughly organised is this system of police, that it is said to be impossible to elude its vigilance. A native who was suspected in these countries, and was afterwards in my service, remained in confinement for three months, and was at length dismissed by the route he had come, but not till a likeness of him had been first taken. Several copies of the picture were despatched to the frontier towns, with these instructions:—“If this man enters the country, his head is the Emperor’s, his property is yours.” I need not add, that he has never since sought to extend his acquaintance in the Chinese provinces of Yarkund.
Country between Yarkund and Tibet.
I had a most interesting account of the country lying between Yarkund and Ladak, in Tibet, from a native who had travelled there, and which will convey any but favourable notions of this channel of commerce, frequented, as it appears partially to be. The traveller set out from Ladak in March, and reached Yarkund in sixty days, after encountering a series of disasters and difficulties from a storm that arose in passing the mountains of Kara Korum. The number of actual marches does not exceed twenty-eight, but seven whole days were occupied in crossing Kara Korum; which is described as a low ridge, at the eighth march. Such was the violence of the north wind, and the drifting of the snow, that for some days the party only made a progress of a hundred yards. Though Kara Korum is not a high range of mountains, it must be elevated, since a difficulty of breathing was experienced; also vomiting, giddiness, and loss of appetite. For all these tea was considered a specific. The storm abated, and enabled the travellers to proceed; but eight of their ponies had died, and the whole party must soon have perished, for the animals had ate up the straw of their saddles and cushions before regaining the inhabited country, which commenced at the eighteenth march from Ladak. There they met a few huts, inhabited by the Wakhanees, of whom I have before spoken. They carried every supply for themselves and their horses. At the seventeenth march the travellers encountered a defile among hills which extended for five or six miles, and is called Yengi Dabban. The road led entirely over ice, which was notched into steps before they could proceed. On returning to Ladak in June, the ice had entirely disappeared: even Kara Korum was free from snow. This is singular, as it must be higher than Hindoo Koosh, which is covered by eternal snow. To the south of Kara Korum all the rivers join the Shyook; and it is evident, therefore, that that ridge, low as it actually appears, is the highest part of the range. North of it the water flows into the river of Yarkund, and the road follows these defiles, and, in one short distance, is said to cross a rivulet three hundred and sixty times. The last passage is called “Khilastan,” from being relieved of its further inconvenience. The greater part of this country is destitute of fixed inhabitants, but the wandering Kirghizzes frequent it with their flocks during summer; this road is then passed in twenty days. The number of horses which perish on this line of route is great; and it is not an unusual thing for an owner to pick up his goods next year on the spot where they were left. There are no robbers: the wild horse is the solitary inhabitant of this wilderness.
Communications of Yarkund with Bokhara.
The intercourse between Bokhara and Yarkund is carried on by two routes, leading through the valleys of the Sir, or Jaxartes, and the Oxus. Notice of Kokan. The first of these routes passes by Kokan, the ancient Ferghana, and is always passable but in the three summer months, when it is flooded by melted snow. There are two places on this route where the traveller experiences a difficulty of breathing. The disturbances with the exiled Khoju and the Uzbeks of Kokan have of late years closed this route to caravans; but it is the best line of communication between Yarkund and Toorkistan. The route by the plain of Pamere and the valley of the Oxus, through Budukhshan and Balkh, is more circuitous, and likewise less accessible. I have described both these lines of route, when speaking of the commerce of Bokhara; I have only, therefore, to make a brief mention of Kokan, which is the paternal kingdom of Baber. It is ruled by an Uzbek Khan, of the tribe of Yooz, who claims a lineage from that Emperor. It is a much smaller territory than Bokhara, and its power is now on the decline: it is celebrated for its silk. The capital of the country is Kokan, which is an open town on the Sir, about half the size of Bokhara, and the largest place in that neighbourhood. The ancient capital is Marghilan: Indejan is, however, a town of considerable note; and the Chinese of Yarkund denominate all natives who come from the west, Indejanees. The inhabitants of Kokan wear skull-caps instead of turbans. The Khan of Kokan keeps up an intercourse with Russia and Constantinople; but there is no friendly feeling towards the rulers of Yarkund.