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| 0271 |
The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
Citation Information
OCR Text
In describing my journey from Yarkand to Kashmir in
the last two chapters, I have referred to a tribe of raiders who
inhabit the little state of Hunza (or Kanjut, as it is always
called on the Yarkand side), which is situated to the north
of Kashmir. Deep-set among the mountains, accessible only
by lofty snowy passes or through narrow impracticable defiles,
the little state had bred and harboured a race of men who,
issuing from the mountain fastnesses, had raided incessantly
upon all the countries round. The traders on the road from
Yarkand to India continually suffered from these wild free-
booters; the peace-loving inhabitants of the Yarkand valleys
were ever subject to their attacks, and compelled to hand them
over black-mail; the nomadic Kirghiz, scattered defenceless in
their tents over the open valleys of the Pamirs, had to pay their
"tribute," or suffer the consequences of refusal; the Kashmir
troops at Gilgit dreaded their attacks; and even the poor Baltis
in distant and inaccessible Askoli shuddered at the thought
of them. No one could get at these wild Hunza raiders, secure
as they were in their impenetrable valleys, but they could strike
at every one round them.
In the autumn of 1888—the year after I had crossed the
Mustagh Pass—these robbers had made an unusually daring
attack upon a large caravan, and had carried off a number of
Kirghiz from Shahidula, on the Yarkand road. The Kirghiz
had applied to the Chinese for protection against such raids,
but had been refused it, and they thereupon, in the spring
of 1889, made a similar petition to the British authorities. It
was to inquire into and report upon the circumstances of this
raid, and to examine all the country between the trade route
and Hunza, with a view to stopping such raids for the future,
that I was now to be sent by the Government of India. I
was to take a small guard of six Gurkhas with me, and a native
surveyor, and the Kirghiz who had brought the petition in to
Leh was to await my arrival there, and accompany me to
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