IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
340 IN TIBET AND CHINESE TURKESTAN.
and the Chow-Kuan of Karghalik, who was then in bad repute, and had been petitioned against by the people of
his district, sought to regain favour with the Futai by releasing at his own cost all the slaves within his jurisdiction. When Macartney went to Khotan to urge on
the work of manumission, he insisted on having all
slaves examined, to ascertain whether any among them
were from India. This process was likely to prove
troublesome, and the Chow-Kuan, merely from a desire to save himself trouble, declared by public proclamation
that all slaves in his district were thenceforth free. The
Indian Government, which had thus, at a cost to itself not exceeding three thousand rupees, exerted a most
beneficial influence, sent a telegram thanking the Taotai
of Kashgar for his action, but sent it by way of the Tsungli Yamen at Pekin, whence, up to March, 1899, it
had not been despatched. In what way Macartney's able
conduct of the negotiations was acknowledged I am not aware. The work was accomplished unostentatiously
and with no newspaper celebration, for little or nothing was said about the matter either by the Indian or the English press.
The chief agricultural produce of the country consists of Indian corn, rice, wheat, barley, cotton, hemp, tobaaeoi and vegetables. Oats are not grown. Fruits commonly produced are grapes, melons, peaches, apricots, plums, &c., while pears and apples are somewhat rare. European potatoes are rare, but the Chinese variety can be obtained in all large towns. A notion among the people that rain-water contains salt, and is therefore injurious to the crops, is probably derived from the fact- that the ground in many places contains a good deal of salt,' usually covered by the muddy deposit from. the canal water, but exposed to view when this surface- mud has been washed off by heavy rain,
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