IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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| ( 482 No. of loads. Cost per load in tungas. | ||
| Salamoniac |
| 12 | 520 | |
| Alum |
| 200 | 100 | |
| Copper |
| 10 | 520 | |
| Value of Cloth, | 132,000 | tungas. | Value of Salamoniac, 6,240 | tungas. |
| ff Churas, | 227,200 | )f | ff Alum, 20,000 | ff |
| I) Numdas, | 7,000 | ff | „ Copper, 5,200 | PI |
| I; Carpets, | 16,250 | „ |
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| Representing a total value of 93,378 rupees. This consignment was divided between 50 men, of whom the meats as under :— | eight principal had invest- |
| Mahomed Caravan bashi | 15 horse loads. | Mahomed Khan Bai ... | ... 30 horse loads. | ||
| Mahomed Saleh Bai ... | 40 | ditto. | Aib Bai | ... 20 | ditto. |
| Mahomed Kareem Bai ... | 50 | ditto. | Mahomed Ashgar Bai | ... 45 | ditto. |
| Mir Jan Bai of Margilan | 40 | ditto. | Mahomed Ali Batcha... | ... 40 | ditto. |
The remaining 591 loads were distributed amongst 42 men.
A certain amount of trade from Russian markets is said to reach the towns of Aksu, Bai Sairani, Kuchar, and Turfan by way of Kuldja and the Muzart Pass, but of this I could gain no information of a reliable character, and the business transacted must, under any conditions, be comparatively insignificant.
It is very difficult to fix exactly the trade relations which unite the markets of Russian Turkestan and of Bokhara, and Khokand with Kashghar ; the impetus of the trade which finds a centre in Kashghar is, however, from without. The merchants engaged are either Andijanis who have settled in the Amir's capital of late years, or the goods moving along the several trade routes are bought and sold by agents of merchants living beyond the border.
Notes of credit, or exchange transactions of money between the different markets, are quite unknown in general commercial dealings, though, between friends, arrangements are made in Kashghar for the payment of small sums in Almati and Khokand, or even in Bokhara.
The statement made before the Royal Geographical Society that there are Banks in Yarkand is quite unfounded.
Between merchants at the different places exchanges of goods are occasionally made under written authority : but there are only some three men in Kashghar, and two in Yarkand, possessing sufficient capital to allow of transactions outside the ordinary caravan trade.
The Amir's rule has not been of sufficiently long duration to attract traders of wealth, and beyond the money spent in investments for the return trip, the gains of the trader are usually spent without the country. If capital be accumulated in Kashghar, the owner of wealth is at present afraid to acknowledge his good fortune, though a more enlightened policy, and the conclusion of the commercial treaties with Russia and Great Britain, have already improved the standing of traders throughout the country.
The present condition, position, and privileges of traders in the Amir's dominions, now that these treaties are established facts, will bear favorable comparison with what is met with in any other Mahomedan country in Asia.
The enlightened treatment of traders who have reached Yarkand from India, Badakshan, and elsewhere, by the Dadkhwah Mahomed Yunus Jan, is quite exceptional ; the lead that he has taken in this matter has been fully approved by the Amir, and during our intercourse with Aalish Dadkhwah, the Governor of Kashghar, we had every reason to feel satisfied that he was equally inclined to promote the interests of trade.
The removal of the disabilities under which Hindoo merchants have ]abored in the Mahomedan States of Central Asia by the Amir is an earnest of further progress.
N.B.—Almonds and Pistachios are brought with profit from Badakshan, and no Dasterkhwan is complete unless bon-bons with Russian mottoes are offered to the guest.
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