国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

by the Amir he issued a decree with the sanction of the 'alim, to the effect that the whole of
the soil vested in himself as sole and absolute proprietor; but that hereditary owners and lease-
holders could renew their rights by purchase through the 'alim of the division to which they
belonged. This order applied equally to the freehold tenants by purchase, who were mostly
Andijân emigrants. The majority of the landholders redeemed their rights by payment to the
'alim, from whom they received a document bearing his seal in testimony of the transaction.
The lands which under the Chinese rule were held as crown property, and had been given in
fief to the several divisional governors in their time (the Wáng, Ishikághá, Beg, &c.,) were
exempted from this order, and the Amir reserved them for distribution amongst his adherents and
officers. Church lands also were similarly exempted, and their glebe rights were renewed in
favour of the original bequests. But all waste land, including the pasture tracts around the
settlements were decreed the absolute property of the Amir, and before they could be brought
under cultivation it was incumbent on the farmer to purchase or rent it. All land, whether
waste or cultivated, other than orchard and vineyard, appears to sell alike at the fixed rate of
forty tanga or ten rupees, for as much as is sown with one chárak or twenty pounds of wheat.

Generally the landowner or holder does not cultivate his estate himself, but lets it out to
tenants, who, after paying the Government demands, render three-fourths of the net produce
to the landlord, and retain the remaining share for themselves. The Government demands
on the land are the 'ushr, or one in ten parts of the gross produce of all cereal crops; and the
tanáb or tax on a measured area of fruit and vegetable gardens, and other crops not cereal.
The tanáb is a linear measure of nearly 47 yards, and any space on two sides by a line of that
length is called a tanáb of land. The tax varies from one or two, to eight or ten tanga the
tanáb, according to the nature and value of the crop. Such are the legal demands, but in
practice much more is exacted by the Collectors for their own benefit, and whilst at Yangi Hissar
we saw Government orders upon certain settlements for the collection of the 'ushr at the rate
of three parts in ten.

The zakát is a Mahommedan tax like the 'ushr sanctioned by the Shari'at. It is one part
in forty of all live-stock, and of merchandise entering the country. In the former case it is
levied yearly in kind, but in the latter at an ad valorem rate in cash, at the custom house
where the goods are examined. There are no data as to the receipts under these heads, and no
accounts appear to be kept. Seemingly the Amir leaves this to the dádkhwáh, and makes no
enquiry so long as the flow into the imperial treasury does not flag, or does not come short of
the roughly estimated capabilities of the division. There are, besides the above, some muni-
cipal imposts and taxes on drugs, &c., but their amount is trifling. And there is the produce of
the gold mines of Khutan, of which no details are known. Previous to the treaty of trade
with Russia, merchants other than Musalmans paid the zakát at the rate of one in twenty
ad valorem, as in other Mahommadan States, and Hindus further paid a monthly tax of two
tanga per head so long as they resided in the country, and were prohibited from wearing the
turban or riding on horseback in the streets. These restrictions have been all rescinded by the
terms of the treaty concluded with the British Government, and British subjects, irrespective of
creed, are now only subject to the same imposts as the Musalmans.

Police.—The system of police is very intricate, and its ramifications pervade all society,
with the effect of creating a profound mistrust of each other amongst the people, without
materially improving the state of public morals; for though some vices and abuses are put down
with severely repressive measures (as prostitution and spirit or wine drinking), others of a
worse nature are taken no notice of (as sodomy and opium or hemp-smoking), whilst others
again, as gambling and obscenity, are little interfered with, unless the censor of public morals
should come in contact with them in his rounds.

The police may be divided into two classes, viz., the secret and municipal. The first are
everywhere, and amongst all classes, and nobody knows who they are, or how they act, but every-
body feels their presence and is carefully on his guard.

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