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

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make ; between the two is the thickness of the wall. Above the door and window, there is sometimes a small lattice window covered with paper in winter, and open in summer. Few houses have a well in the court or garden, but each house has it cess-pit, over which is built the privy. None of the houses are raised mach above the level of the ground, and in most the lower rooms are sunk a little below the level of the ground. It is usual to lay the foundations upon a layer of rolled stones from the river beds; over these is spread a layer of matting, and then the clay wall is built upon it, either with bricks or in forms between boards. In their lines and angles most houses are superior to those of the same class of people in India ; but in their surroundings, and the utter neglect of conservancy, they are no ways different.

Such are the main characters of the Kâshghar dwellings, which are everywhere roofed with poplar beams and rafters, overlaid with a layer of plastered earth spread upon matting. They are warmed with the fire-places mentioned, or, as is the case in most of the better houses, the sleeping-room is provided with a sandal. This is a square space enclosed by low walls two feet high ; in its centre is a round flat-topped pillar of the same height ; from this pillar to the walls pass a series of boards which form a floor above the enclosed space ; they are removable, and are now and again taken off to prepare the sandal for use; this is done by spreading its floor three or four inches deep with dry horse-dung, and setting it on fire to smoulder through the night • sue boards are replaced, and the bedding spread on the floor, which is shared by the w _iie family.

The king's palace, and those of the city governors, with other public buildings which have been erected since the Amir's accession to the Government, are of a different character, and in the superiority of their structure and general plan, more resemble the houses of the Persian nobility than anything I can compare them to. They are not Indian and they are not European, nor are they Chinese, but they may be on the Khokand model.

Language.—The language of the people of Kâshghar is the Uighiir dialect of Turki. It is spoken with greater or less difference of idiom and patois in the several divisions of the country, and that of Aksii is said to be the purest. In the appendix will be found a vocabulary of the dialect spoken in Yarkand. Formerly the language was written in a character peculiar to itself, but the Arabic letters have long since displaced it, and none of the old books are now to be met with. The literature of the country is very little known, though some poetical and historical works which have been examined by European savants, prove, by the purity and perspicuity of style, that the language in the palmy days of the Uighur empire must have attained a high degree of culture—no doubt as one consequence of the Islam supremacy and the contact with Persian civilization. I have no practical knowledge, however, of the subject, and our opportunities in the country were not such as to favour research in this direction.

Government of the country.—Under the Chinese rule Kâshghar was governed as a non-regulation province by a Jdng jung or Viceroy, whose capital was at Ila or Khillja. He held the country by a purely military occupation to maintain order, realise the revenue, and protect trade, and left the internal administration of the government in the hands of Musalman natives of the country, who received their appointments from himself, subject to confirmation from Pekin ; and were in all cases immediately subordinate and responsible to superior officers of the ruling race who were, for the higher grades, appointed direct from Pekin.

The system bears some points of resemblance to that of our own in India—at least so far as concerns the administrative and executive offices. Thus the Viceroy of Ila appointed over each of the two provinces of his government a Khdkan or Klan Antbât (or as it is written Ambcin), or Lieutenant-Governor. That of Ztinghâr was styled Ong Ambdl, or Lieutenant-Governor of the Right, and that of Kâshghar, Sol Ambc£l, or Lieutenant-Governor of the Left. The latter resided at Yarkand, as the seat of government and capital of the province. In him was vested the entire administration of the country, and his authority was supreme except in matters connected with foreign policy, or in questions which required the sanction of the Pekin or Home Government through the Ila Viceroy. He resided in a palace in the Yangishahr of Yarkand with his officers of state, and a special body-guard of Khitay troops.

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