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0252 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 252 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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( 172 )

where they dig and sift gold during only forty days of the year owing to the T.R. excessive cold. Other gold mines of Tibet are in Champa.

Mirza Hydar and Iskandar, the son of Said, with four thousand men led the

advance, and proceeding by the direct route arrived at Nubra in Safar 938 H. = 1532 A.D. From this they sent off parties in all directions to convert to Islam, or to slay the recusants. They took the fort of Maryol, which was held by two Chiefs called Lacca Choghdan and Basankol.

The cold here was intense. From this Iskandar was hastily recalled owing

to the alarming illness of his father from dam = breath" on the Dolpa road from Khutan. On arrival at Nubra, however, Said recovered, and with a thousand men turned off to winter at Ba1ti. Iskandar, meanwhile, rejoining Mirza Hydar, pushed on by the Zoji Pass, where he quickly routed its four hundred defenders, to winter in Kashmir.

Bahram Toe, the Ruler of Balti, submitted to Said who at once took possession

of the town, located his troops in its houses, killed the men, seized the women, and till spring waged a destructive guerilla all over the country to Maryol. During the same time Iskandar subjugated Kashmir, and married the daughter of Muhammad Shah its King.

In the spring both parties met in Maryol. From here Said sent Iskandar and

Mirza Hydar, with two thousand men, to destroy the idol city of Aorsa,ng (or as it is colloquially pronounced Aochang or Uchang), which was the cabla' or Jerusalem of the Khitay, and himself set out on his return to Yarkand by the Sacri Pass into Nubra. On rising from this to the highland of the Karakoram Pass, Said was again taken ill with dam, and, though hurried along to get across the difficult parts as quickly as possible, died at a stage only four days short of the place where the dam is no longer felt. The spot, I may here note, is marked by the name Daulat Beg Uldi=" The Lord of the State died." It is the stage directly to the south of the Karakoram Pass, and is 16,400 feet above the sea. ' Said died at the end of 939 H., aged forty-six years, having reigned twenty. On the arrival of the corpse, Syad Muhammad Mirza, who had repaired to the capital from his government at Kashghar on first intimation of the King's death, performed the funeral rites, and, with a strong party of nobles in support, assumed the government pending the return of Iskandar.

But Rashid at the same time coming from Aksû, seized Syad Muhammad on

the first day of the new year 940H., and slew him over his father's grave where the unsuspecting minister had come to express the usual condolence. He then mounted the throne himself, and, sending off his agents to Kashghar, executed all the family of his victim, and confiscated his property.

Iskandar and Mirza Hydar, meanwhile, had penetrated twenty marches towards

Aorsang, and on the Lit Safar, having defeated the Champa Tibetans at Baryang, captured great booty in cattle and sheep. They ravaged the country around for several months, and on the lit Mukarram 940 H., the day on which Rashid killed Syad Muhammad, were attacked in a narrow defile by Kardom and the Hindû army and defeated with considerable loss ; Hydar's brother, 'Abdulla, being amongst the slain.

From Maryol this expeditionary force marched altogether two months towards Aorsang. In one month they came to the forts of Nok and Labok on the shore of a lake forty farsakk in circuit. Here they lost nearly all their horses from the fatal effects of dam, and the army had to proceed on foot with great difficulty and loss to Tamluc, whence is fourteen days' journey to Bangala. At Tamluc horses enough to mount ninety men were seized, and the army then advanced four days' march to Askarof, whence is a journey of twenty days to Aorsang. From this they were forced to retire owing to the exhaustion and inefficiency of the troops. From Tamluc to Maryol is twenty stages. In two stages they came to Koko, and there levied a contribution of three thousand mitkcdl of gold from the people.