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

withdrew on the plea of some pressing business to transact, begging us the while to consider
his house and grounds as our own.

With this liberty we passed an agreeable afternoon in the garden attached to the Resi-
dency, though its trees were leafless, its tanks frozen, and kiosks deserted. In the full foliage
of summer it must be a delightful retreat. In this garden we found a heap of copper ore
recently brought in from some hills to the north of the city. A sample of it was subsequently
submitted for Dr. Stoliezka's opinion, and was found by him on analysis to be a copper pyrites
capable of yielding twenty-five per cent. of the pure metal.

Towards sunset we took leave of our host, highly gratified at the cordial reception and
hospitable entertainment he had provided for us, and galloped back to our quarters, passing on
the road an active tide of traffic to and fro between the old and new cities. Most were on
horseback, or mounted on donkies, and very few on foot, whilst no small number found accom-
modation in the "omnibus" carts that ply daily on this road. These are covered waggons,
drawn by four horses, one between the shafts and three abreast in front : they carry from twelve
to sixteen passengers huddled together any fashion : they make three or four journeys a day,
and the charge is thirteen put, or about two pence English, each way.

On the 18th instant, we attended a review of the Khatai or Chinese troops in the service
of the Amir. There are, we were told, some three thousand odd of these representatives of
the recently ruling race now in the Amir's army. They are of course all forcible converts to
Islam, have been deprived of their "pigtails," amongst several other privileges, and are kept
separate from the other troops in a fortified barrack of their own. Their arms, organization,
and discipline too are quite distinct, and maintained in their own Chinese fashion under a
Chief called Kho-dalai.

At the review we found twenty-eight companies, of fifty men each, on the ground. They
were disposed in two divisions opposite to each other, and at the head of each company were
carried two standards of triangular shape and bright colour, one at the head of each file of
twenty-five men. Their only weapon is a large, heavy smooth-bore, set in a wooden socket,
and very much like an ordinary duck-gun. It is called tyfu, is carried on the shoulders of
two men, the foremost acting as a rest or support, and is served by three others, viz., one to
carry ammunition and load, a second who carries a long ramrod tipped with a bunch of horse
hair to clean the gun and complete loading, and the third as supernumerary and stop-gap in
case of casualty. There are ten of these tyfu guns with each company.

In front of each division, as they stood facing each other drawn up in contiguous columns
of companies, were posted a half company each of spearmen, with their heads bound with
handkerchiefs, the ends fluttering in the wind, of archers helmeted after the fashion of the
stage, and of "tigers," men clad throughout in yellow, streaked with broad bars of black, and
topped above with a pair of neat ears. These last carried large circular shields gaudily painted
with dragons and other hideous monsters on one side and concealing on the other a gunbarrel
set in a socket of wood, and serving also as a handle whereby to carry the shield. All these
three classes wore short side-swords.

Midway between the two divisions stood the band, composed of a big drum carried in a
framework sedan by two porters, and attended on each side by lesser drums, with players of
flageolet, bugle, and cymbals. With the band stood the commandant, the Kho-dalai, attended
by a number of fuglemen, one of whom carried a large flag and the rest small ones.

Such was the appearance and disposition of the Khatai force as we found it on reaching
the parade ground. At a signal from the Kho-dalai, the head fugleman waved his flag and all
the little flags ran out to their proper places and waved likewise. And presently, without any
sound being uttered, the kaleidoscope began to work. Companies, following their standards,
crossed, recrossed, and interlaced and finally resolved themselves into a long straight line. An-
other wave of the flags, and the javelin-men, archers and "tigers" bounded to the front, gesti-
culating, capering and cutting antics in an absurdly grotesque manner, ending with the line of
"tigers" dispersing the enemy's cavalry by crouching under cover of their shields, and suddenly
starting up with a yell and flourish of their dragons. The enemy's horse is supposed to have
d