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

however, both in the highlands of Belochístán and Khurásán, have no permanent dwellings,
and in no respect differ from the pámir, like which, too, they are in summer the scenes of
busy life and activity, crowded by the camps and cattle of nomad tribes, who there is reason
to believe are not so separate in race as they are in territorial distribution. The tuman of the
Bráhoe in Belochístán, the aul of the Ilyát in Persia, and the ayil of the Kirghiz in Káshghar,
and even the Kizdi of the nomad Afghán, all bear a common family resemblance; and through
the very words designating their camps, whilst suggesting a common origin, offer a most
inviting field for historical and philological investigation. The plateaux shared in summer
by the Káshghar Kirghiz of Karátágh and the Khokand Kirghiz of Osh and Andiján
are called Aláy in the northern half and Kizil Art in the southern, and are bordered on the
west by an interrupted chain of mountains similar to those on the east. It has no general
name, but each more prominent ridge is called separately, just as each separate pámir has its
distinguishing appellation known only to the Kirghiz, and not very definitely or generally even
to them, for half a dozen different men will give each a different name to one and the same
peak. "What's the use of writing down so many names?" said an impatient Kirghiz whom
I had worried with interrogatories a whole forenoon, till he was sore from shifting his seat from
heel to heel, and escaped from further torture on the plea that his horse was left starving in
the cold. "We call one country Aláy and another Kizil Art, and we call every spread of
pasture pámir, just as we call a stony plain sáy, and a slope at the foot of the hills sirt." "No.
The chol is different; there is none in our country; it is only on this plain of Káshghar;
any place is chol where the ground is arid, and bare, and slightly raised above the general
level." "There are numberless camp grounds on Aláy and Kizil Art too. We call each
ayil = camp by the name of the Bi = Chief." "Every place too has its name, but I don't
know them. Its four years since I was in Aláy, and people give their camp grounds different
names. We call a place such and such a tágh = hill, or tánk = rock, or kol = pool, or cát =
glen, or sú = stream, or árt = valley pass, or tár = straight or gorge, or dawán = hill pass,
or corghán = fort, or carávnul = picket, and so on, and everybody knows the place; it does
for three or four tásh all round up and down." "No, the Osh Kirghiz are not subjects of
Atálik Gházi. They come over Tirik Dawán every year with the Kapchák of Mádi and roam
down to Chádir-tash, and Neza-tásh, and Aktásh, but they don't pay Zakát except to the Khan of
Khokand. My father is a subject of Atálik; his camps are in Kirmán Kúl and Egizak on the
Koksú at foot of Tirik Dawán; he keeps a picket on the pass; I am a jigit = trooper, and
have served Atálik four years. I get no pay, only food and clothing for self and horse.
These arms all belong to Badaulat, and I received them from my Pansad. I belong to the
Náymán tribe. There are 1,000 houses in the hills from Sárigh Kúl to Chádir Kol, all Náymán.
There are others besides as Bárga, Monác, &c. We only pay Zakát to Atálik, and our Chiefs
are charged with the protection of the frontier against marauders from the Khokand side.
There are only eight of us here in service with Badaulat. He can't keep more because we run
away, or get ill and die here. We are constantly employed going backwards and forwards
with orders to the frontier outposts."

The population of all this Kirghiz division is very variously estimated. By some the
number is stated at 30,000 houses, but this figure, it would seem, includes all the camps on
both sides the Alátágh. Of those who are recognized subjects of the Káshghar State, I don't
think the number can exceed 3,000 houses, viz., 800 in Kákchál and Artosh, 1,600 in the Aktágh
and Karátágh valleys, and 600 on the upper waters of the Yárkand and Karákásh rivers.
Counting seven for each ac-oe or "white house"—the name of their portable frame work and
felt covered tents—this will give 21,000 souls as the Kirghiz population of the Káshghar
State.

The Kirghiz occupy the whole of Mogholistan proper or Zúnghár which extends from
Yúlduz on the east to Táshkand on the west. Like the Kalmák they have no cities or towns
but migrate from the lower to the higher valleys and plateaux according to the seasons. On
the north their neighbours are the Kazzák or Cossack of Isígh Kol and Koba and Ila, on the
west the Kapchák or Kipchák, on the south the Uzbak of Khokand and Turk of Káshghar,
and on the east the Kalmák of Yuldúz.

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