National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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present clay it is locally known as Ilchi or Ilsa, and the name is applied in a restricted sense to the capital city in distinction to the fort or military city adjoining it. But the ' whole State is known as Khutan or Alty Shahri Khutan=" Six cities of Khutan " from the six towns composing it, viz., Ilchi, K ,rakash, Yûrungkash, Chira, Karyi or Kirya, and Mya.

Each of these townships, to which is added a seventh called Koh-tigh or Kuranghota.gh, forms a separate government under a Beg, who is subordinate to the Hakim Beg or Ruling Beg" at the capital. Collectively the population of these several townships is reckoned at 18,000 houses, and they are distributed as follows.

Ilchi or Khutan, the capital, 6,000 houses. Close opposite is the Gulbagh Fort, which in the time of the Chinese had a garrison of 2,000 men. The city is walled and stands on the Khutan river, on both banks of which are its suburbs. Its people are mostly Turk and Tartars with a considerable mixture of foreign blood, principally Chinese ; and amongst them are settled many emigrants from Andijan or Khokand, together with natives of Tibet, Kashmir, and the Punjab, and also of Kabul. There is besides a small fluctuating population of merchant traders.

The principal manufactures of the city are silk fabrics, carpets, and a coarse cotton cloth called kkc'm. These, together with the other chief products of the country, viz., gold, jade-stone, musk, raw silk, and raw cotton, form the staples of its trade and its most valuable exports. Under the Chinese rule all these industries flourished, and attracted a large number of merchants to the country ; but, with the exception of the cotton trade, they are now all in a very languishing state, owing, it is said, to the great number of workmen who perished in the late massacres and wars. A trustworthy resident of the city who had witnessed the whole revolution, from the overthrow of the Chinese to the establishment of the Amir, informed me that the whole country was now completely impoverished, and that it had lost nearly half of its male population. His account of the state of trade was much thus—" The jade trade, which formerly supported several thousand families in its collection and manufacture, had now entirely disappeared. So the gold mines, which under the Chinese employed whole settlements, are now deserted, excepting only one or two which are worked as a close monopoly by the Amir. The carpet trade has similarly declined, and the rare productions of gold wire, silk, and wool combined, which under the Chinese found eager competitors, are now never seen, for there is nobody left to buy them. The cotton industry is the only one that flourishes, for we must all wear clothes, and the kham (a sort of buckram) which the weavers turn out is so cheap and durable that everybody buys it. The silk is good enough, though not to compare with that of Andija,n ; but where ten men wore it before hardly one can afford to do so now."

Karikash. This is a settlement of 1,000 houses on the lower course of the river of that name, scattered in clusters of three or four homesteads together. In this district there are both jade and gold mines, and the people have lots of horses and cattle.

Yûrungkish,1,000 houses. It comprises several settlements on the Khutan River between the city and the mountains. At Jiya, which is a collection of 150 homesteads on the sandy plain, about 4 task from the mountains, a good deal of silk is produced ; and at Kiimbit and Tashmalik, two small villages in the hills about 4 tag from Yûrungkish, there are jade quarries and gold diggings.

Kuringhotagh, 1,500 houses. This district comprises several glens on the upper course of the Khutan River up to its sources on the Kang Dawan, and is contiguous to the northward with Yûrungkish. Its principal settlements are Chorash, Chamand, Ambar, Chukir, Achyin, Soktyin, and Zabira or Mazir Char Imam. They are all in separate glens, and Chorash is the residence of the Beg. From Chamand to Kang Dawan is a day's journey to the south-west with no habitation. Gold is washed in streams from the mountain, but only in summer. In this direction too is Chikil; it is four days' journey from Ilchi, and the boundary of its territory, for there is no road beyond it as the mountains here join those of Karakoram and Sasir. This is a very wild district, and as the name implies the glens are narrow, deep, and dark.

Chira, 4,000 houses. This is a market town, and has many populous settlements along the river of the same name. The soil is sandy but productive, and most of the silk of the country