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

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from under ground springs at the foot of the hills ; and where these flow on the surface are planted the farm settlements. These conduits are called karez by the Musalmans, and khhin by the Khitây, and nukhun-bukka by the Kalmâk ; some of them flow in a considerable stream for many miles and irrigate and fertilize wide tracts of otherwise bare desert.

Turfân extends from Gumish Akma hills separating it from Karâshahr valley on the west to Chiktam or Chightam on the borders of the desert on the east, a distance of forty task or 200 miles. Chightam is the limit of the Amir's territory eastward. The north boundary is an irregular range of hills called Ayghûr Bulk Ugh on the west and Kali, Bulâk Ugh on the east; whilst the southern border is an undefined line on the desert waste separating it from Lob. Within these limits the population is reckoned at 18,000 houses, or at seven per house 126,000 souls; but it does not contain anything like that number now.

After the capture of Kûchâ and the destruction of the Khoja power there by the Amir, the Turfân State for a brief period formed part of the principality ruled by Dâûd Khalifa, till it was wrested from him by the conqueror as mentioned in the History. Under the Chinese this division was one of the most populous and flourishing of all the States of Kâshghar, but it has suffered frightfully during the late revolution of the Tungani and succeeding conquest by the Amir, and now it is described as a long succession of ruined farmsteads and barely tenanted settlements.

Its city, which is called Kuhna Turfân or " Old Turfân" in distinction to U'sh Turfân in the west, was a thriving commercial city on the great caravan route between China and Western Asia, and the several lesser towns of the division were active seats of life and industry, but both their merchants and their wealth alike have disappeared in the recent troubles.

Turfân is described as a strong walled city surrounded by populous suburbs all watered by numerous Karez streams. Its population were mostly Khitây and Tungâni, and numbered 6,000 houses in and around the city, which was protected by a citadel with a garrison of 3,000 men. It was the emporium for the silks and teas of China, and had manufactures of leather and woollen fabrics of its own. The common fuel of the city was coal brought from the Sirkip hills to the north-east. It is of brown colour and much inferior to that found at Aksû, which is black, and burns well. The city is now in a decayed state with less than half its former population, and is entirely cut off from communication with China, whence it derived its wealth. It is held as a military post by a strong garrison of the Amir's troops who, to the number of 5,000 men, are quartered in the citadel, and a new fort built on the Khokand model close to the city.

The other principal places in this division are the following, viz., Tokhstin, a small fortified town on the Karâshahr road, 600 houses including the suburbs. Dabânchi, a hill castle, on the road north to Orûmchi, 500 houses with the suburbs. Sdbashi, a market town of 300 Khitây homesteads, now in ruins. Karâ Khoja, a Musalmân settlement of 500 houses. Mazâr Abul Fattâh, 300 houses, Musammân market town. Lukchun, 2,000 houses, on the Gochang River which in floods reaches Lob ; this is a market town, and its farmsteads spread many miles north and south along the course of the rivulet ; though the fields are irrigated by Karez streams. Up to this the country all the way from Turfân, a distance of fifty miles, is a succession of farmsteads held by Musalmâns. Beyond, across a strip of desert waste, is another Musalmân settlement (as in fact are all the peopled places, though many of the holdings in each are tenantless), Pichân, 500 houses, and a Khitây fort on a small stream from Gochang Tagh; and beyond again is the frontier outpost of Chightam, 100 houses. Gochang, at the foot of the hills to the north, is a market town of 400 houses. Yangi-Khhin to its south 100 farms. Sirkip at foot of hills 200. And all the other settlements 6,500. Total 18,000 houses.

The soil of Turfân is described as similar to that of Kâshghar, but more gravelly, and the productions are the same, though the climate is said to be much milder. The cotton produce here