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0082 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 82 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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( 46 )

they are mostly employed as , soldier farmers, and to prevent their leaving the country are scored on the left cheek with a razor ; they are a despicable set, and speak mixed languages, such as Khitây, Mânjhti, Kalmâk, &c. There are none of these in Yuldtiz, only Kalmâk and Khitay. Yulduz produces wheat = sagc ntaran, barley = khdrataran, rice = tuturgho, maize = ardanshishi, millet=carc£suc-tirik, melon=gho, water-melon=turbuz, cucumber=tamshak, opium =khartamki, egg plant=petingân, pear=kermin, apple=almin, &c. All these were grown by the Kalmâk and Khitay in Karâshahr in quantity to supply their own wants and all Lob and the Yuldtiz camps.

The only cultivation now, besides the Musalmân settlement on the river, is that around the new fort by the soldiers of the garrison. This fort was built by the Amir at Tawulgah three and a half ash north-east from the city and half a tdsh from the river. It is on the plain two days' journey from Lake Baghrâsh on the south, and four days' from the mountains to the north. It is of square shape and built of red bricks of which the Chinese left immense piles here; the fort has one gate on the south side, and is surrounded by a deep ditch all round, and on each of its four sides are eight high turrets. It is the best fort in the country ; between it and the river is a settlement of 300 farms held by families originally from Kâmol; and to the west of the fort is the Shitân settlement, which is now deserted and in ruins.

The Kalmâk are a distinct people from the Turk tribes of Kâshghar, and differ from them in origin, physiognomy, language, religion, manners, customs, and mode of life. They belong to the great Monghol Târtâr race from the north, and their principal divisions in this region are the following, viz., Monghol in Mongholây, sixteen days' journey north-east from Karâshahr; Choktir at Issik ; Tânghtzt in the Tânghtit valley ; Olot and Mânjh)i in Ila ; Turgtxt in Ila, Yuldtiz, Karâshahr and Lob ; Koshot in Yuldtiz ; Karâ Kalmâk in Yuldnz, Lob, Châchan, and Tibet ; Sâ.righ Kalmâk in Yuldtiz, Lysun, Ortimchi, and Turfân ; and Tuwat in Tuwat or Tubat or Tibet which is also called Joh. All these originally came from Kok Nor, which is seven days' journey north of Mongholây, and Mongholây is twelve days' journey north-east of Ortimchi. There are besides two other countries of the Kalmâk also called Kok Nor. One is five days' journey north of Ortimchi, and the other is, beyond Lob, five days' journey to the south of Ktichâ. This last is continuous with Châchan on the east of Khutan, and in it are the ruins of several ancient cities of which nobody knows anything. The principal of these is called Kok Nor. " Kok Nor means ` blue lake,' and these several countries are so called, because they have such sheets of water in different parts of their surface. But these ruins of Kok Nor I have myself seen." So says my informant whom I have before introduced as the traveller during thirty years all over this region. " They are on the desert to the east of the Katak ruins, and three days' journey from Lob in a south-west direction along the course of the

Khutan River. The walls are seen rising above the reeds in which the city is concealed."   " No.
I have not been inside the city, but I have seen its walls distinctly from the sandy ridges in the vicinity. I was afraid to go amongst the ruins because of the bogs around, and the venemous insects and snakes in the reeds. I was camped about them for several days with a party of Lob shepherds who were here pasturing their cattle. Besides it is a notorious fact that people who do go amongst the ruins almost always die, because they cannot resist the temptation to

steal the gold and precious things stored there."   " You may doubt it, but everybody here
knows that what I say is true ; and there are hundreds of K almâks who have gone to the temple

in the midst of these ruins to worship the God there."   " Yes. There is a temple in the centre
of the ruins, and in it is the figure of a man. It is of the natural size, and the features are those of a Kalmâk, and the whole figure is of a bright yellow colour. Ranged on shelves all round the figure are precious stones and pearls of great size and brilliancy, and innumerable yei nb or ingots of gold and silver. Nobody has power to take away anything from here."

" This is all well known to the people of Lob. And they tell of a Kalmâk who once went to worship the God, and after finishing his salutation and adorations secreted two ycimb of gold in his fob, and went his way. He had not gone very far when he was overpowered by a deep sleep and lay down on the road side to have it out. On awaking he discovered that his stolen treasure was gone, though the fob of his debil or frock was as he had closed it. So he went back to the temple to get others, but to his astonishment found the very two he had taken returned to the exact spot from which he had removed them. He was so frightened that he