Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 44 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0044	Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1

in an Indian bazar. Traders in Russian chintzes and Khokand cutlery occupied the verandahs
in one street and did business in a more leisurely manner. All transactions were for cash and
Tungas were the circulating medium. The whole business of the market was over and every-
body had left the place by early evening.

These weekly markets are a remarkable feature in Central Asia. Colonel Yule in his
'Book of Marco Polo,' remarks that "market days are not usual in Upper India or Cabul but
are universal in Badakshan and the Oxus Provinces. The bazars are only open on those days
and the people from the surrounding country then assemble to exchange goods, generally by
barter." Marco Polo in his Chapter LIII. mentions a great market held at a large place on
the road to the kingdom of Mien, when the people of the country round come on fixed days
three times a week and hold a market. In the Shan towns visited by Major Sladen, he found
markets held every fifth day. This custom, he says, is borrowed from China and is general
throughout Western Yunan. Burnes, in his travels to Bokhara, mentions arriving at Karran
a village 16 miles distant from Kurshee on a market day, "for in the towns of Turkistan,
they hold their bazars on stated days as in Europe. We met many people proceeding to the
thing, but not a single individual on foot—all were equestrians. A stranger is amused at
seeing a horse literally converted into a family conveyance, and a man jogging along with his
wife behind him. The ladies are of course veiled like most females in this country: they
prefer blue cloths to white as in Cabul, and are sombre looking figures." This corresponds
very much with the Kashghar custom, except that the ladies, who have the reputation
of being independent and disposed to have the upper hand, are not content to ride
meekly behind their husbands, but generally have their own pony, on which perhaps may
be seen paniers full of melons, on top of which the woman rides astride with a child behind,
while the husband follows more humbly mounted on a donkey.*

Having expressed a desire to see something of Kirghiz life in the interior, we found every
arrangement made for a ten-days' trip, by our friend Mohamad Khan Khoja, who sent his
younger son, Moosa Khan, to take care of us. Moosa Khan is a fine manly intelligent youth
of two and twenty, a keen sportsman, and, as we found, a most pleasant companion.

Leaving the valley of Artysh, we passed through a gorge into an immense valley which
comes down from the Terek pass, and then entered the Tungi Tar or narrow defile as its name
implies. Here we found a good line of fortifications erected on a well selected point, where a
few resolute men could keep a large body of invaders in check.

Passing through this defile, along the frozen river bed, over which the wintry blast came
with cutting force, we emerged upon a very broad valley almost wide enough to be called a
plain, on the other side of which rose the snow clad peaks of the Aksai range, and we saw the
Tian Shan mountains before us in all their glory. It was impossible not to feel a strong thrill
when beholding this magnificent scene. On the lofty plateau, and on the nothern slopes, lies
Atbashi, the great grazing ground of the Kirghiz tribes, and there was the trysting place of
the nomad Chiefs, who every spring, as we are told by the author of the Rozaat-i-syfa, assem-
bled to hold their kurultai, or open air parliament, to settle their affairs, and to arrange plans
for the summer's campaign. The plain on which we found ourselves was said to be well
grassed in summer, but at the time of our visit was covered with snow. Here and there a few
scattered domes of mud or sun-dried bricks told the last resting place of Kirghiz Chiefs. In
the sheltered corner of a valley, a cluster of round felt tents might be seen, and as we rode

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

Citation Information

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