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Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 |
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often met with except in the Khutan division, where, it is said, they are numerous. Asses of a diminutive breed abound everywhere, and in the cities are found in surprising numbers, and perform the work which elsewhere is done by porters. The sheep is raised here in immense numbers, and is of a very superior breed, both as regards flesh and fleece. It is of the dumb
a or " fat-tailed" variety, and is a large animal, standing higher and longer than its English fellow. It is pastured with the goat in large flocks in the valleys all along the foot of the hills, and in winter both throw up a thick coat of soft downy wool under the longer fleece and hair respectively. This fine wool is woven by the Kirghiz into a variety of warm fabrics for home wear, and much of it is exported to Kashmir for the use of the shawl weavers there. The dog is found here under a variety of forms. There is the sheep dog and watch dog of the Kirghiz—a wolfish, savage animal, and a very efficient protector against surprise by man or
beast. The pariah, as in other cities of the East, has his home in the streets ; by day he hangs about the butchers' stalls, and at night reposes on the dungheaps ; and such of them as have owners, testify their acknowledgments of favours conferred by howling dismally all night from the housetops. The spaniel and terrier and curs of sorts, strangely like their brethren about any European barrack in India, now and again attract attention like strangers on the scene.
The camel, with the horse and sheep, constitutes the wealth of the Kirghiz. They are not so numerous as one might be led to imagine, partly owing to the more general use of the horse as the transporter of merchandise, and partly to the fact of their being only reared by the Kirghiz and Kalmâk. They are all of the double-humped variety, and some of them are very handsome creatures grandly arrayed in bushy shags of deep soft wool, who step a proud leisurely pace fully conscious of the imposing dignity of their form and bearing.
The grunting ox and the hybrid cattle are mostly, if not altogether, limited to the southern borders of the country, and flourish best in the lower valleys of the Milztt gh and Karâkoram ranges. We saw none of them on the plain beyond Sanjii. They are common in Sarigh Kill and Wakhan and with the Kirghiz of King Kill and Ch:chiklik. Finally in the time of the Chinese, there was the domestic pig, but with the reign of Islam, he has disappeared from the scene entirely.
Regarding the fishes of Kashghar I have little information. Most of the lesser streams, and all the main rivers are stocked with different kinds. In Lob fish form the main diet of the people, and to a limited extent this form of food is consumed in the principal cities. But there are no fisheries for a regular supply of fish to the market. Some were occasionally brought for our table, and they were of two different species. One of which was the barbel, weighing up to eighteen or twenty pounds or more.
The following extracts from Burnes serve to preface a few short notes on the different kinds of horses met with in Eastern Turkestan :-
Horses.—Burnes, Volume 111,, Chapter Jr—" The horse attains a noble perfection in Turkestan and the countries north of Hindu Koosh. The climate is fâ,vorable to its constitution, and the inhabitants exhibit the most patient solicitude in its breeding and food ; so that its best qualities are developed. The Toorkman horse is a large and bony animal, more remarkable for strength and bottom than symmetry and beauty. Its crest is nobly erect, but the length of body detracts from its appearance in the eye of a European ; nor is its head so small, or its coat so sleek as the brood of Arabia. This want of ornament is amply compensated by its more substantial virtues, and its utility is its beauty.
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" The peculiar manner in which a Toorkman rears his horse arrests attention, and will perhaps account for its stamina and superiority ; since education, whether of the beast or the man, leaves the most permanent impression. The diet is of the simplest kind and entirely free from the spices and sugars, the 32 and 42 mussalahs (condiments) of the Indians. Grass is given at stated periods of the forenoon, evening, and midnight ; and after feeding on it for an hour, the horse is reined up and never permitted to nibble and eat as in Europe. Dry food is preferred at all times, and if green barley and jerwarree are given in its stead, the animal then receives no grain. At other times a horse has from 8 to As of barley once a day. Clover
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