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

of sheep, &c., or twelve nines of horses, and so on. A poor man may give only a nine of sheep
but he cannot give less than that number. Similarly the presents given by the father to the
bride must be in the same number or its multiple of each kind, as nine frocks, nine mantles,
nine carpets, &c., and the presents made by friends too must be in the same number, as nine
pieces of silk, nine veils, nine caps, &c., &c. The origin of the selection of this particular
number, called tocús, is not known, but the custom is observed by all the Turk and Tartar tribes
of Central Asia.

The language of the Kirghiz is a dialect of the Turki spoken in Káshghar, but they are
mostly an illiterate people, though their Chiefs have books recording the history of the tribes,
and others of poetry. They are fond of music, and there are many travelling minstrels and
story tellers, called bacsi, in the camps. The common names of Kirghiz men are Sikkan,
Súránehi, Táylak, Cholpang, Músá, Atantay, Turdá, Sádik, Khidir, Sáydin, Pokbasar, Yobasar,
Sultay, Sadir, Anizar, Tilaka, Khán, Tora, &c. And of women, Ganjika, Sárah, Sholpanáy,
Orún, Orúzághácha, Olja, Irancha, Ariján, Shachán, Shakar, Toctághácha, 'Ayim, Bakhtágha-
cha, Tolkun, Zácha, Munsághácha, Búrúlúsh, &c.

Pakhpúlúk of Múztágh.—This division—the last and least of those of Káshghar—belongs
to the district of Kokyár in the jurisdiction of Yárkand, and comprises the narrow glens and
defiles of the head waters of the Tiznáf and Zarafshán, or Yárkand river on the northern
slopes of Múztágh. It consists of two principal divisions, viz., Khalistán which extends from
Topa Dawán to Yangi Dawán and contains the upper course of the Tiznáf river, and Shanshú,
with its sub-divisions of Apat Bulong, Mámok, and Molong Bulong, on the upper course
of the Yárkand river up to the glaciers of Torághil which separate it from the Bálti country to
the south.

It is a very poor and inhospitable country, very little known even to the people of Yárkand,
but remarkable as the retreat of a most interesting and purely Aryan people who only require
to be put into coat and trowsers to pass, so far as outward appearance goes, for the fairest
Englishman.

On the return journey of the embassy, we marched through the length of Khalistán,
and had the opportunity of meeting some of these people, and Captain Chapman took a
photograph of two of them who were employed in our camp. Their tall figures, fair skins,
light eyes, and sandy whiskers and hair, coupled with their pronounced Caucasian features, at
once marked them as of an entirely different race to any of the many our journey had brought
us in contact with. Unfortunately, the temerity of these people had carried their camps
and families into the recesses of the glens and mountain hollows far out of the line of our
march, and we were consequently deprived of the opportunity of learning much about them
by personal observation.

By the people of Yárkand they are called Pápu, but to me they called themselves Pakhpá
and their country Pakhpúlúk—a Turkí adjectival form signifying "belonging to the Pakhpá"—
and corresponding to the noun and adjective forms of Briton and British respectively. They
profess Islám—the Shia doctrine—and speak the Turki of Yárkand, but in a corrupt and not
easily intelligible form even to natives of that city. They denied having any other language
of their own, and their undisguised fear led them to conceal all information regarding them-
selves, though they were by no means so reticent in replying to questions regarding their
Kunjud neighbours on the south side of the mountain. The names of the camp grounds in
their country are all Turki, but those of the subdivisons of the country itself, as will be seen
from the examples above given, are not so, though to what language they may be referred I
have no means of ascertaining.

The two Bulong, Mámok, Aghil, Khalistán, &c., in their distinct etymology resemble the
unintelligible names of localities peculiar to the adjoining hill tract designated by the Turki
appellation Sárigh Kúl or Táshkorghán, such as Wáchá, Maryang, Kesarov, &c., and denote a
separate origin from the several different aric, cúdác, yár, tásh, corghán, úldé, sáldé, &c., of the
later Turk possessors, so common on the plain, and on the beaten tracks of their goings and
comings. Yet they appear not to have anything in common, for these Pakhpúlúk assured
us that the languages of Kunjud, Sárigh Kúl, and Wakhán were unintelligible to them.