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

tributary of the Kaidú or Karáshahr river flows through the town, which is said to be smaller
than Yangi Hissár.

Its suburbs to the west on the Kúchá road are Conghrát, Langar, and Shináght to Durwúl;
to the north-east on the Karáshahr road, Ukát, Sáy bágh, and the new fort to Lámpú-tásh hill;
to the east on the road to Kúrúgh Tágh, Tuwúnki, Chárcbú, and Shánko; and to the south on
the road to Kará Kochún, Cosh Arik, Tobrachi, Taskan, Doghár, Chambola, Langar, Sháh
Calandar, and Uzan.

Its limits are Durwul on the west, and Básh Ayghúr, on the right bank of the Karáshahr
river which comes from the Tolaman hills where coal is worked, on the east; on the north the
mountains, and on the south the Tárim river to Konchi below the junction of the united
stream of the Kúcha and Kúrla rivers. This is the limit eastward of the Turk tribes of Kásh-
ghar and Yárkand; and beyond the Káidú or Karáshahr river comes the Tartar race, the Kalmak,
and Khitay element in preponderance. The road from Kúrla to Karáshahr goes along the
right bank of the river between it and the mountains, and beyond Dangzíl, where in a reedy
marsh are the ruins of Kutyághan, crosses it to the city by boat.

Karáshahr.—This division occupies a valley between the Ayghúr Bulák hills to the north, (a
continuation eastward of the Alátágh or Tangri Ula range), and the Kúrúgh-tágh range of sand
hills to the south. These coalesce towards the east and close the valley in that direction at
Gumish Akma, about 90 miles from the city; but towards the west the valley is open and
gives passage to the Káidú river, which on issuing from the Yuldúz valley spreads over the
southern portion of this basin and forms the Bagbrásh Kol or lake. It is described as a long
sheet of water five days' journey in length, and covered with floating islands of tall reeds
amidst which the river flows, in the western end of the lake only. It is separated from the
Lob District to the south by the Kurúghtágh, a wide range of sandy and gravelly ridges, amongst
the hollows of which the wild horse and wild camel breed. There is a road between the lake
and this range, seven days' journey from Kúrla to Ush Aktál; and there is another along its
southern side, between it and Lob, a seven days' journey from Kará Kochún to Turfán. There
is no habitation on either route, and the soil is sandy and marshy, and covered with great
spreads of reed, and tamarisk, and poplar forest. The city of Karáshahr stands near the left
bank of the river to the north of the lake. Between the city and the river is the Musalman
settlement of farms, and from it north-east goes the road to Turfan along a wide plain between
the hills and the lake. It is about six days' journey in length, and was covered with a succession
of Khitay homesteads; but these were all destroyed by the Amír, and the whole way up to
Ush Aktal, a distance of fifty miles, is now a mass of ruined farms and deserted homesteads.
At Kará Kizil, 20 miles beyond Ush Aktál and about the same distance from Gumish Akma
where the road enters the hills, there are the ruins of an ancient city called Kará Kizil in the
midst of a sandy waste. They are supposed to be the remains of the ancient Chálish or Jálish.

Karáshahr is a walled city of 1,000 houses, formerly peopled by Kalmák tribes who always
lived in their Khargáh tents (putting their cattle into the houses) and every summer emigrated
to Yuldúz. It was originally founded by the Khitay with twelve Musalmán families from
Kúrla and twelve from Bughúr; and it was afterwards settled by the Kalmák of the Turgut
and Koshot camps, and by traders from Kámol. Since the Amír's campaign here the city is
almost entirely deserted, and all the suburbs, except the Musalman settlement on the river, are
now in ruins.

The population of the division was formerly reckoned at 8,000 houses or 56,000 souls,
but now, excepting the Musalman settlement of 300 houses on the river and the new
fort built by the Amír, there is hardly anybody in the country. The Yuldúz Kalmák
who used to camp and pasture here, and who kept up a constant communication with Lob,
now seldom quit their own valley. The Yuldúz Kalmák are Turgut and Koshot. Those
of Ila are Olot and Mánjhú; and amongst them are many Solon and Shiba, the offspring of a
Kalmák father and Khitay mother. They are a mean and beggarly set, and wear no other
clothing but a loin-clout; their language is a mongrel dialect mixed up with many Arabic
words; they have no other weapons besides the bow and arrow. There are also in Ila a great
many champan; these are enslaved criminals brought and settled here from all parts of China;