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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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 dumba
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 Kalmák. 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 lei-
surely 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 south-
ern borders of the country, and flourish best in the lower valleys of the Múztágh and Kará-
koram ranges. We saw none of them on the plain beyond Sanjú. They are common in
Sárigh Kúl and Wakhán and with the Kirghiz of Kíng Kúl and Cháchiklik. Finally in the
time of the Chinese, there was the domestic pig, but with the reign of Islám, he has disap-
peared from the scene entirely.

Regarding the fishes of Káshghar 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 III., Chapter IV.—" The horse attains a noble perfection in
Turkestan and the countries north of Hindu Koosh. The climate is favorable to its constitu-
tion, 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.

* * * * • *

"The peculiar manner in which a Toorkman rears his horse arrests attention, and will per-
haps 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 9lbs of barley once a day. Clover

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