CHAPTER XVIII
STALKING THE GREAT SHEEP OF MARCO POLO
Do you know the world’s white roof-tree--do you know that windy rift Where the baffling mountain-eddies chop and change? Do you know the long day’s patience, belly-down on frozen drift, While the head of heads is feeding out of range? It is there that I am going, where the boulders and the snow lie, With a trusty, nimble tracker that I know, I have sworn an oath, to keep it on the Horns of Ovis poli, And the Red Gods call me out and I must go!
KIPLING, _The Feet of the Young Men_.
Life in the East, more especially away from important centres, lacks most of the amenities which are taken as a matter of course in the civilized West. Family life is broken up, society is restricted, communications are bad, involving few and irregular posts, and health frequently suffers from the climate and from indifferent food. So much for the debit side. But fortunately there is a credit side, and for the Englishman sport is a large item on this side and does much to brighten the otherwise trying monotony of life in Asia. It also helps him to maintain his energy and health, and with it that sane outlook which is one of the main secrets of our success as a world-power.
When appointed to Kashgar I had hopes of fulfilling the ambition of a life-time by stalking one of Marco Polo’s great sheep, the _Ovis poli_. As a youth I had been fascinated by the record of the celebrated Venetian traveller, and after joining the army had made considerable efforts to travel in the Pamirs in 1891 and 1892. But the arrest of Younghusband, mentioned in Chapter XV., closed the “Roof of the World” to the private traveller, and it seemed as if I were not destined to tread these mysterious upland valleys. But the fates were kind. On the way to Kashgar I stopped at Petrograd, where a high Russian official, whose colleague I had been at Meshed, said that he felt sure I should wish to shoot an Ovis poli in the Pamirs. I replied emphatically in the affirmative, and it was speedily arranged that I should receive an invitation to travel in the regions which for so many years I had longed to visit.
Before describing the _Ovis poli_, which confers the blue riband upon the hunter of big game, both from the magnificence of the trophy and the inaccessibility of its habitat, I will quote Marco Polo, who wrote: “There are great numbers of all kinds of wild beasts [in the Pamirs]; among others, wild sheep of great size, whose horns are good six palms in length. From these horns the shepherds make great bowls to eat from, and they use the horns also to enclose folds for their cattle at night.”
The credit of Marco suffered through the ignorance of mankind, and it was not until the nineteenth century that his character for accuracy was vindicated by Lieutenant Wood, who, when he reached England in 1838 after his famous journey to a chief source of the Oxus, exhibited some skulls with horns 4 feet 8 inches long, and on the strength of these specimens the species was appropriately named _Ovis poli_ or “The sheep of (Marco) Polo.”
It is the most splendid member of a splendid group, to which belong also the _Ovis ammon_ of Tibet, with more massive but shorter horns, and the _Ovis karelini_ of the Tian Shan, which is a smaller sub-species of the _poli_, the “record” head, shot by E. W. Dixon, measuring only 58½ inches. In the _Ovis poli_, the enormous horns are longer and relatively narrower than in any of the other wild sheep, forming a more open spiral and much more than one complete circle, with the flat surface markedly angulated.[18] The summer coat is lightly speckled and the legs are white, but in the winter the ruff becomes pure white. The height at the shoulders exceeds 12 hands, and the weight may be about 22 stone. The length of horns is enormous, one specimen, believed to be the longest on record, measuring 6 feet 3 inches! Marco’s “six palms” may perhaps be the equivalent of 5 feet; so that his estimate was in no way exaggerated.
The great distinction of being the first European to shoot an _Ovis poli_ was won by Captain (the late Sir Henry) Trotter, who describes the event as follows: “It was during a very tedious and long march of thirty-seven miles, mostly through snow, that my attention was suddenly called to the presence of some wild sheep about two hundred yards up the hillside. My rifle was handy, and in a few seconds one of them came rolling down. It was the first _Ovis poli_ ever shot by a European sportsman, but it was unfortunately a very poor specimen.”[19] Since that date British big-game shots, including the most famous of their generation, have visited these remote upland valleys in pursuit of this king of sheep.
When I actually visited the Pamirs I found that some of the descriptions I had read did not convey a clear impression on all points. Perhaps my chief disappointment was the aridity of the country, for, travelling in June and July, I had expected to find rich meadows decked with Alpine flowers. On the contrary, nowhere did I see anything but the scantiest pasturage, and it remains a subject of wonder that the huge _Ovis poli_ can find nourishment in such a barren land. A second point which struck me was that the Pamirs were for the most part open and easy to traverse, and the mountains, although actually rising very high above sea-level, appeared almost insignificant when viewed from the high altitude at which we were travelling. The one point on which there was no mistake was the severity of the weather.
Starting from Kashgar in considerable heat on June 7, we crossed the Katta Dawan twelve days later in equally considerable cold, and from its crest, at an elevation of 15,250 feet, the Pamirs lay before us. To the north the Trans-Alai range rose up in snow-covered peaks, while almost at our feet a corner of the Great Karakul, the largest lake of the Pamirs, was visible. Descending into the valley from the storm-swept pass, I felt very happy that I had at last reached the haunt of the _Ovis poli_, and my elation was increased by seeing three small herds of females grazing on the mountain side as we passed down the valley to our camp near the lake.
The following morning I started off to try for game, feeling as keen and excited as I had done during my first shooting expedition more than twenty-five years ago, when everything was “fair and new.” I had fortunately secured the services of a good _shikari_, by name Nadir, who has already been mentioned. He had travelled with other Englishmen and quite grasped our methods of stalking, which utterly puzzle an untutored Kirghiz. He was indeed a treasure; for, besides being a good stalker, he understood how to manage the Kirghiz, who worked willingly under him.
Followed by some ponies carrying bedding and food, we rode across the level steppe to the foot-hills. By good luck we sighted a herd of six or eight four-year old rams, which were grazing about a mile off to our right, and before very long we saw their horns moving over a low ridge about 400 yards away. I jumped off and, running up to the ridge, had an easy shot and bagged my first _Ovis poli_. Though the head was a small one, such a start was of good omen for the future.
We afterwards examined the ground for miles, but saw no tracks of big rams; so we bivouacked in the hills and returned to camp the following day, satisfied that the local _shikari_ was speaking the truth when he explained that the veterans visited the range only in winter. There was, indeed, no chance of a big head anywhere near the Karakul, and as sport was merely a pleasant incident of the journey, not its object, we marched on to Pamirsky Post.
[Illustration: _OVIS POLI_--THE 51-INCH HEAD. _Page 328._]
From this centre we were making for Sarikol, and, owing to it being midsummer, when the Kirghiz were grazing their flocks all over the country, the prospects of bagging a good head appeared to be small. Nadir, however, knew of a _nullah_ to the south, and we determined to give it a trial, and therefore made for the Uchak Valley, where we camped at an elevation of 13,500 feet, some miles from the stalking ground, for the sake of obtaining supplies and water. It was bitterly cold at night, but we started off for our day’s stalking by 4 A.M., warmly wrapped up and riding the invaluable yak. Walking at these high altitudes is trying to the heart, especially to the middle-aged, and I decided, wisely I think, to save myself as far as possible. We gradually made our way up the open but stony valley towards the skirt of the main range, riding up the side of the mountain almost to the snow line, where we dismounted to spy. The bare, open hillside was littered with large and small boulders; there was little grass and no cover to speak of; so I did not feel hopeful.
Fortune, however, was kind, and before very long a herd headed by a really fine ram was sighted, slowly grazing its way uphill. For a long while we watched our quarry, as at one time it bore away from us and then again turned in our direction, until we finally saw that its line lay about a mile from where we were in hiding. The stalk consisted mainly in crawling round boulders; but although the wind was favourable we were seen before we approached within the usual range for a shot, as was indeed inevitable owing to lack of cover.
The only course left was to rely on my telescopic sight and risk a long shot. But I could not see the quarry either from a lying or from a sitting position, owing to the boulders, and at the distance a standing shot would have been folly. Accordingly I told Nadir to bend down and, using his shoulder as a rest, was able to aim steadily at the big ram, which, after stopping for a moment to gaze at us, was moving off at a slow pace. My _shikari_ was as steady as a rock, and, thanks to this, I was able to hit the ram through the heart. It was a most fortunate shot; for the distance was paced out at 300 yards.
Nadir and the Kirghiz, wild with excitement, raced off to the fallen ram, while I, equally elated but far less active, slowly followed them, panting for breath when I attempted to run. It was indeed a lucky day, as the ram was a fine six-year-old specimen, standing as high as a small mule, and with a perfect pair of horns measuring 51 inches.
On the following day I wounded a second ram in the shoulder by another long shot, and tracked it until nightfall, leaving it when we were about five miles from camp. Early the next morning we sighted it again near the foot of a precipitous hill on a wide open plain where it had joined some ewes. Stalking was out of the question, as concealment was impossible, and we felt depressed until the Kirghiz told us that a few miles off there was a man, the owner of two hunting dogs who would run down the wounded quarry. In time he appeared on the scene and handed over his dogs to the Kirghiz _shikari_, while I sat down to watch. The Kirghiz showed great skill in separating the ram from the ewes, and when the dogs were let loose he ran at their heels at a remarkable pace. The ram went very fast at first, but then circled and doubled, threatening the dogs at times. But its efforts to escape were vain, and after a five minutes’ run the noble quarry was pulled down and the _shikari_ cut its throat. The scramble down to the valley was very steep and long, but my yak was equal to it, and I was interested in watching some snowcock, which kept flying past us in alarm, displaying their striking plumage to great advantage. When we reached the bottom of the hill we found the ram to be a fine head, but smaller than the one shot on the first day, which, according to our information, was the biggest in that area, although not a first-class head.
[Illustration: HUNTING-DOGS WITH KIRGHIZ OWNER. _Page 330._]
The dogs were not fed until they were rested, and to my surprise they refused a piece of bread; but it was explained to me that bread was such a delicacy among the Kirghiz that a dog never had a chance of tasting it and so did not know what it was!
Their owner, like all the Kirghiz I met, was friendly and gave me his views on life. He laid down emphatically that no man of substance could be comfortable without four wives, and on my challenging this statement he was quite contemptuous and said that the Prophet, on Him be Peace, gave his commandments wisely when he permitted Moslems to marry four helpmates, as two were needed to milk the yaks and the sheep, a third to do the cooking and a fourth to sew and weave carpets. He ended up by saying, “Praise be to Allah! I have four obedient wives, who spend all their days in trying to please me!”
On the way home we passed a number of fine skulls lying about below a bluff which the Kirghiz referred to as a “cemetery.” They said that the _Ovis poli_ are hunted in the snow by packs of wolves and take refuge on such steep places, where they are surrounded. In spite of their huge horns the rams apparently never attempt to defend themselves, and as their joints, heated by the pursuit, stiffen from the cold, they fall an easy prey to their enemies.
* * * * *
As I sit at home surrounded by trophies gained in the plains of India, in Kashmir, in Ladak, in Persia and finally in the Pamirs, each head evokes pleasing memories of the stalk and recalls some of the happiest days of my life. On no expedition does the golden haze lie deeper than on the successful stalking of the great sheep of Marco Polo, in the remote upland valleys of the “Roof of the World.”
INDEX
Aba Bakr, 268
Abdalis, 242
Abu Ali bin Sina (Avicenna), 318
Abu Nasr, 260
Achmet, 22, 24, 27, 40-41, 46
Afghanistan, Amir of: China and, 272; Wakhan awarded to, 294
Afghanistan, trade with, 247
Afghans in Kashgar, 57
Afrasiab, Mt., 156
Agha Khan, the, 155, 157, 177
Agriculture in Chinese Turkestan, 300-307
Agri Su, shrine, 181
Ahmad Khan, Amir, 272
_Akhois_, 114-17, 125, 146, 149
Ak Langar, 203, 220
Ak Masjid taken, 276, 282
_Aksakals_, 105, 273; of Guma, 197-8; of Sarikol, 153, 157
Aksu, 240, 266, 280, 292, 295
_Ak Taulin_, 269, 270
_Ak-Yul-luk_ ceremony, 312
Alai range, 31
Ali Aralan, 93-5, 261
Almaligh, 265
_Alti Shahr_, 273
_Ambans_, Chinese, 126, 194, 198, 242, 279
_Amin-ul-Muminin_, 284
Amundsen, Captain, 4
Amursana, 271
Andijan, 21, 245, 272, 274, 299, 301
Apak, _Hazrat_, 68-70, 270-71, 312
Arabs, conquests by, 256-8
Architecture of Chinese Turkestan, 84-5
_Argon_, 117, 125
_Arslan_ Khans, 259
Aryans of Sarikol, 131, 153, 155, 157-60, 308
_Atalik Ghazi_, 279
Ata-ul-Vali, _Shaykh_, 181
Austrian prisoners, 19
Avicenna, 318
Badakshan, 145, 247, 272, 278
Badakshani horses, 28, 53, 114, 176-177, 194, 227-8, 247
Badrudin, _Khan Sahib_, 209-10, 212, 216-20
Bag-mouth rat, 88
_Baigu_, game of, 150-51, 165
Baths, Russian, 13-14
Beg Kuli Beg, 292
_Begs_, 25, 27, 92, 126-7, 139, 164-5; of Tashmalik, 107, 109; official powers of, 243-5
Bergen, 4-5
Besitun, Mt., 156
Bibi Anna, shrine of, 92-3
Bielka, 54, 230
Birds of Chinese Turkestan, 87-8, 161, 182, 221
Bishbaligh, 259
Black Mountaineers, 269
Bohlin, Mr., 51, 55, 65, 66, 72, 87, 88, 105, 171, 173
Bokhara, 269, 274, 279, 282-3
“Braiding of the hair” ceremony, 274, 313-14
Bridge of Gez River, 110-11
Britain and Chinese Turkestan, 293-4, 298; Yakub Beg and, 285-290
Brownie, 54, 230
Buchanan, Lady Georgina, 10
Buddhism, 94, 153, 217-19, 241, 310; in China, 252-3
Buddhist ruins, 84-5, 217-19
Buffer states, Chinese, 298
Bulunkul, Lake, 111, 165
Buzurg Khan, 277, 279
Camels, 15, 28, 79, 109, 112, 169, 302-3
Caravans, 25, 28, 89, 176
Carpets, 82, 116, 146-7, 213
Carts, native, 26, 176
_Chachbagh_ ceremony, 313-14
Chagatai, 265, 266
Chang Kien, 252
Chapman, Captain, 287
Chengiz Khan, 263-5
Chernaieff, General, 277
Chightam, 280-81
Childbirth ceremonies, 314-15
Children, 315-16
China: buffer states of, 298; travel in, 102 Chinese Turkestan and, 55, 97, 186, 242-5; during Revolution, 294-9; struggle for suzerainty, 67, 249-53, 255-6, 257-8, 271-4; Yakub Beg and, 70-71, 277-81, 290-93
Chinese: administration, 55, 97, 186, 242-5; authorities, 37, 186, 242-5; banquets, 72-3, 76-8, 199; burial customs, 71-72; cemetery, 70-72; farmers, 301-2; finger-nails, 73,96-7, 99; foot-mutilation, 74-5; forced labour, 55, 306; games, 78; habits unhealthy, 96-7, 99; _hashish_ prohibited by, 172; jade, 215-17; kindness to animals, 100-101; lying, 100; marriage, 65, 99-100; missionaries persecuted by, 52; soldiers, 74, 95-6; travellers, 28; veneration for age, 76
Chinese Turkestan: administration, 55, 97, 186, 242-5; agriculture, 300-307; art, 82-4; boundaries, 235-6; climate, 56, 239-40; deserts, 236-8; flora, 87, 128, 149-50, 169, 210; halting-places, 35; hospitality, 102; justice, 245; loess formation, 36, 56-7, 86, 91; marriage, 189; population, 240-42, 308-10; religions, 94, 153, 217-19, 241-2, 310; rivers, 258-9; road-making, 228; taxes, 243-4, 306; trade, 245-7, 289
history of: Chinese rule, 67, 70-71, 249-53, 255-6, 257-8, 271-4, 277-81, 290-93, 294-9; Huns and Yue-chi, 249, 252-3; Juan Juan, 254; Western Turks, 254-5; Arabs and Tibetans, 255-6, 257-8; Uighurs, 258-9; Turks, 260-62; Chengiz Khan, Timur, Tamerlane, 263-8; Chagatai Khans, 267-9; Zungars, 270-71; Khojas, 269, 270, 272-274, 278; Yakub Beg, 70-71, 276-81, 290-4; Britain and Russia, 275-6, 282-6, 293-4, 299
_Chini Bagh_, 39-40, 81
Chitral occupied, 293
Christian tribes, 263-4
Christianity in Chinese Turkestan, 190; Nestorian, 94, 256, 323
Circumcision, 315-16
Cobbold, Captain, 134
Consulate premises, 39-40, 81, 170-71
Coronation Chapel, Moscow, 11
_Corvée_ system, 55, 306
Cossacks in Kashgar, 46, 52, 79-80, 81, 297-8; in Pamirs, 133, 135, 140, 141-3; Kirghiz descended from, 240
Croquet, 46
Czaplicka, Miss, 120
Dalai Lama, 270
Dalgleish, 223
Dancing, 323
Daoud _Akhun_, 41, 50, 160, 165, 168, 171, 176
Deasy, Captain, 40, 77
Death ceremonies, 316-17
Deserts, 175, 236-8
Devanchi Pass, 291
Divorce in Chinese Turkestan, 65, 212
Dixon, E. W., 326
Dogs, pariah, 101
Donkeys, Kashgari, 89, 101, 176, 302
Dughlat tribe, 265, 267-8
Dulanis, 223, 225, 241, 281, 323
_Dumba_, 26, 44
Dunmore, Lord, 111, 143, 230
Eagles, hunting with, 182, 222
Education in Kashgar, 316
Elburz Range, 136
Embroidery, 83
English Hospital in Petrograd, 10
Etherton, Lieutenant, 184
Evil eye, charms against, 319
Fa-hien, 217, 219, 253
Falconer of the Mehtar of Chitral, 177
Falconry, 177-8
Ferhad, 156
Finger-nails, Chinese, 73, 96-7, 99
Finland, 8-9
Fish, poisonous, 43; Kirghiz fishing, 152-3
Flax cultivation, 172-3
Flora: of Chinese Turkestan, 87, 128, 149-50, 169, 210; of Pamirs, 145-6
Forsyth mission, 287-9
“Four Garrisons,” 255-6
Freshfield, Mr. Douglas, 146
Games: Chinese, 78; Kashgari, 323; Kirghiz, 122, 150-51, 165
German prisoners, 19
Gez River, 107-11, 166
Gilgit occupied, 293
Goat game, 122, 150-51, 165
Gobi, the, 175, 236, 258, 290
Goez, Benedict, 270
Goitre: in Khotan, 212; in Yarkand, 184-5, 192
Gordon, Sir Thomas, 155, 287, 289
Governor of Kashgar, lunch given by, 72-6; of Tashkurghan, 155; of Yangi Shahr, 97, 99
Great Karakul Lake, 130, 132, 134, 327-8
Grenard, 242, 261, 317
Grombohevsky, Captain, 293
Guchluk, 262, 264
_Gul Bagh_, 71
Guma, 197-9
_Gur Khan_, 261, 262
Haidar, _Mirza_, 240, 266 (_note_), 268
Hakim Khan Torah, 292
Haldan Bokosha, Khan, 270
Han dynasty, 249-50
Hasan Boghra Khan, 260-61
Hasan, _Sayyid Khoja_, 269
_Hashish_, 172, 185
Hawks, 87-8; white, 177-8
Haydon, Mr., 141
Hayward, 287
_Hazrat_ Apak, 68-70, 93, 270-71, 312
Hemp, 246
Hindus: in Kargalik, 194; in Yarkand, 183, 185, 186
Hiong-Nu tribe, 249, 254
Hiuen Tsiang, 129, 196, 197, 207, 217, 237, 251, 254
Hoa tribe, 254
Höegberg, Dr., 52, 184, 190; Mrs., 189, 190
Holdich, Sir Thomas, 129
Horsemanship: Cossack, 79-80; Kashgari, 80, 99
Horses: Badakshani, 28, 53, 114, 176-7, 194, 227-8, 247; Kalmuck, 302; treatment of, 151-2
Hospidset Hotel, 4
Howorth, Sir Henry, 270
_Hsien Yin_ or Sub-Governor, 242
Hsin-Chiang, Chinese name for Chinese Turkestan, 235, 271
Humayun, 112, 175
Huns, 249-50, 252, 254; White, 253-4
_Id_ festival, 229
Iftikhar Ahmad, _Khan Sahib_, 105, 158, 168, 175, 196, 224
Ilak Khans, 258, 261
Ilohi, native name for Khotan, 212
Ili, 265, 270, 271, 272, 280, 294
Ili Tartar General, 243
India: trade with, 246; Yue-chi invade, 249, 252
Indian Empire and Yakub Beg, 286-290
Indians in Chinese Turkestan, 183, 185, 186, 194
Insects of Turkestan, 88-9, 107, 171
Intermarriage, results of, 313
Irkeshtam, 33, 293
Isa _Haji_, 303-7
Isan Bughs, 265
Ishan Khan _Khoja_, 273
Islam: rise of, 256, 260-61, 262; supplants Buddhism, 266, 269, 293, 310
Issak Boulak, 161
Jade of Khotan, 215-17, 270
Jafar Bai, 26-7, 30, 40-41, 43, 50, 77, 95, 108, 112, 117-18, 152, 160, 165, 173, 175, 183, 195, 204, 222, 228
Jahangir, 267, 272
Jam-i-Taghai-Agri-Su, 181
Johnson, Mr., 286
Juan Juan, 254
Justice in Chinese Turkestan, 245
Justinian, Emperor, 214
Kalmuck tribe, 270; horses of, 302
Kamar-u-Din, 267
Kanishka, 252
Kan Ying, 251
_Kaptar Mazzar_, 205-7
Karakash River, 209
Kara Khitai dynasty, 261, 262
Kara Koram, 236, 246
Karakoram, capital of Uighurs, 259
Karakul Lake, Great, 130, 132, 134, 327-8; Little, 164
Karashahr, 241, 255, 280, 292; horses, 302
_Kara Taulin_, 269
Kargalik, 193-4, 288
Karungi, 7-9
Kashgar: agriculture, 170, 172, 301-2, 303-7; bazar, 57-63; birds, 87-8; British mission at, 288-9; Buddhist ruins, 84-85; cemetery, 68-9; childbirth, 314-15; Chinese Republic, disturbances in, 295-8; climate, 56, 230-31, 239-40; crops, 170, 172, 301-2; death ceremonies, 316-17; donkeys, 89, 101, 302; education, 316; farmers, 303-7; food available in, 43-4; fruit, 170, 179-80, 301; handicrafts, 82-4; insects, 88-9, 107, 171; laundry difficulties in, 45-6; marriage and divorce, 64-5, 310-13; medical science in, 317-21; millers, 90; Oasis, 37, 54-5, 240, 300-302; population, 245-246; prices, 44-5; revenue, 244; Russian colony in, 46-51, 79-84, 105; sandstorms, 56, 239-40; shrines, 92-5, 320; sunsets, 91-2, 231; Swedish missionaries, 37, 44, 51-3; trade, 245; trees, 86-7; wall, 67-8; winter in, 280-81
history of: Huns drive Yue-chi from, 249; Pan Chao conquers, 66-7, 250-51; Yue-chi regain, 252, 253; Buddhism reaches, 253; China recovers, 255; one of “Four Garrisons,” 255, 257; Christianity and Zoroastrianism in, 256; Arab raids reach, 257; Ali Arslan defeated, 94, 261; Turkish rule, 261; Sadi visits, 262; Marco Polo in, 265; Timur’s capital, 266; under Dughlat Amirs, 267-8; _Khojas_ established in, 269; _Hazrat_ Apak rules, 68, 270-71; Chinese masters of, 271-3; attempts of _Khojas_ to regain, 272, 273-4, 277; Yakub Beg rules, 277-8, 279-91; Russian designs on, 283, 285; British mission in, 287-90; Chinese overthrow Yakub Beg, 97, 290-92; Revolutionary disturbances in, 295-8
Kashgari: costumes, 29, 58-9, 83, 193; cruelty to animals, 100-101; dirtiness, 44; farmers, 303-7; games, 323; health, 99, 173; horsemanship, 80, 99; lying, 100; medical mission and, 52-53; music, 63-4, 323; peasants, 60; pleasure expeditions, 92, 95; religious observances, 68-9, 92, 95, 314-315; superstitions, 69, 318-21; women, 58-61, 64-5, 83, 92-3, 122, 310-15; workmen, 29, 31, 58
Kashmir, 269; Maharaja of, 293
Kasia Mountains, 236
Katta Dawan, 128-31, 133, 327
_Katta Tura_, 273
Kaufmann, General, 18, 285
Kaufmann, Mt., 134
Kaulbars, Baron, 284
_Kazis_, 243, 245
Keen Lung, Emperor, 271
Keraits, 263
Khanates of the Sir Darya, 275, 283, 299
Khargush Pamir, 134-9
Khiva, 275
_Khojas_, 269, 270-71, 272-3, 274, 277-8, 280
Khokand, 20-21; submits to China, 272, 273; Russian advance on, 276, 277, 279; Russian rule established, 282, 283, 299; revolt, 283, 285
Khotan: ancient cities of, 217-19; carpets, 82, 116, 146-7, 213; history, 94, 253, 255, 261, 279, 286, 292; jade, 215-17; oasis, 323; population, 240, 246; products, 213-17, 246; women, 211-12
journey to: the caravan, 175-8; Yangi Hissar, 178, 180; Yarkand, 182-90; Posgam, 192-3; crossing the desert, 195-7, 201-208; arrival, 209-11; Merket, 221-5; return to Kashgar, 225-9
Khudadad, Amir, 268
Khudayar Khan, 276, 277
Kirghiz, 240-41, 308; _akhois_, 30, 114-17, 125, 146, 149; character and customs, 113-14, 118, 123-5, 164-5, 331; features, 57, 113; fishing, 152-3; goat game, 122, 150-51, 165; headgear, 25, 118, 133, 148; hunter, 330-31; Karakoram captured by, 259; marriages, 119-22, 323; ponies, 302; religion and superstition, 125, 163; submit to China, 272; women, 23, 114, 118-22, 133
Kizil Art, 236
Kizil Su River, 35, 55, 238
Korla, 292
_Koumiss_, 122
Kucha, 280, 292
Kuen-lun range, 205, 236
Kuli, 165
Kulja, 271, 293
Kungur, Mt., 40, 164
Kuntigmas, 166
Kuropatkin, 291
_Kutass_ riding, 162-4, 166-8
Kutayba ibn Muslim, 257
_Kvass_, 9
Labour, forced, 55, 306
Ladak, 268, 269, 286
Lalmoi marsh, 238
_Lapis lazuli_, 247
Leh route to India, 246
Little, Mrs. Archibald, 75
Littledale, Mrs. St. George, 209
Little Lake Karakul, 164
Liu-Kin-tang, 97-8
Loess formations, 36, 56-7, 86, 91
Macartney, Lady, 38-39, 45, 54
Macartney, Sir George, 3, 37, 52, 78, 102, 231, 298
_Makhdum-i-Azam_, 269
Manichaeism, 259
Maralbashi, 238, 239
Marmots, 136, 144
Marriage: Chinese, 65, 189; Kashgar, 64-5, 310-13; Khotan, 212; Kirghiz, 119-22, 323
Master of the Horse, 176-7
_Mazzars_, 92-5, 205-7
Medical missionaries attacked, 51-2
Medicine in Kashgar, system of, 317-21
Melons, 179-80
Merket, 221-5, 241
Meshed, 51, 325
Mestchersky, Prince, 46, 48; Princess, 46, 48, 75, 79, 80
Metal-work, 83
Millers, 90
_Ming Bashis_, 25, 141, 144-5, 243
Miniol, 37, 170
Mithradates II., 249-50
Moghulistan, 235, 265, 267
Mohamed of Khwarazm (Khiva), 262
Mongols: of Karashahr, 241; races of, in Chinese Turkestan, 308; rise of, 263-5; Tombs of the, 95
Mon Wang, 249
Moscow, 11
Moslems deported, 271, 272, 273; rebellions of, 280
Mountain sickness, 138, 149, 168
_Muezzins_, 91
_Mullas_, 52, 58, 61, 173
Murghab River, 130, 141
Mussalman Kuli, 276, 277
Muztagh Ata, 40, 111, 148, 160, 163, 164, 166, 180, 231
Nadir, the huntsman, 108, 117, 119, 131-2; his sheep taken by wolves, 124-5; stalking _ovis poli_, 133, 135, 140-41, 328-30; at home in Tashkurghan, 153, 156-7
Naiman tribe, 264
Narin, Fort, 283
Nestorian Christianity, 94, 256, 323
Niaz Hakim Beg, 291
Nomad tribes, 240-41, 243
Norwegians, 4-5
Oases, 240, 301-2, 306
Opal, 169-70
Opium, 247
Ordam-Padshah, 94, 261
Oriental slackness, 40, 42
Osh, 23-6
_Ovis ammon_, 326
_Ovis poli_: horns, 143, 326; stalking, 131, 135, 146, 324-32
Pamirs: British mission in, 289; Russian authority in, 293-4, 299, 325
travel in: preparations, 103-5; journey begun, 105-7; Gez River crossing, 107-11, 166; daily routine, 112-13; among the Kirghiz, 113-27; Katta Dawan crossed, 129-31, 133, 327; Karakul Lake, 130, 132, 134, 327; _ovis poli_ stalking, 133, 135, 327-8; Khargush Pamir, 134-9; fossils found, 141; Pamirsky Post, 141-3, 328; Uchak Valley, stalking in, 144, 329-31; with the Sarikoli, 148-60; Ulughat Pass, 166-8
Pamirsky Post, 139, 141-3, 328
Pan Ghao, General, 67, 250-51
Paper manufacture, 198
Parthia, Chinese missions to, 249, 251
Persia: agriculture, 301; character of people, 190; China and, 253, 256; deserts, 236
Peter the Great, 270
Petrograd, 3, 9-10
Philip of France, 178
Pigeon Shrine, 205-7
Polo, Marco, 129, 196, 205, 265, 324-5
Posgam, 192-3
_Potais_, 178-9, 196, 204
Pottery, 82
Prester John, 264
Przemyzl, capture of, 17
Ptolemy, 236
Races of Chinese Turkestan, 308
Rainfall, 239, 300
Ramazan, fast of, 125, 165, 171, 173-4
Raquette, Dr., 51-2
Rashid Khan, 269
Rémusat, 212, 215, 219
Revenue system, 243-4, 306
Revolution, Chinese, 294-9
Roads in Turkestan, 25, 27, 30-32, 228
Roche, Major, 143
Romanoff, M., 17, 81-2, 87
Russia, journey through, 9-15; peasants, 14; soldiers, 9, 10, 14; the steppes, 15, 16, 22; trains, 6, 13, 15, 17
policy of: Sir Daria entered, 275-6; hostilities with Khokand, 276, 277, 282, 283; Turkestan province formed, 276; Ili province occupied, 280; Yakub Beg and, 282-6, 290, 291, 292; treaty with Chinese, 293; Pamir delimitation, 293-4; troops in Kashgar, 297-8; territories acquired, 299; trade with, 245, 246, 247, 284
Russians: colony in Kashgar, 46-51, 79-81, 105; devotion, 11-12; hospitality, 24, 47-9; outposts in Pamirs, 133-5, 140, 141-3, 154; primitive customs, 33-5; Sarts and, 18, 19, 21
Russian Turkestan, journey through, 17-35
Sadi, 262
Sadik Beg, 277, 278
Safdar Ali Khan, 187
Said, Sultan, 268
Sakas, 249
Samara, 13-14
Samarkand, 216, 269
Sandstorms, 56, 239-40
Sanjar, Sultan, 262
Sarikol annexed, 280
Sarikolis, 131, 149, 153, 155, 157-160, 177, 308, 323
Sarts, 18-21
Satok Boghra Khan, 260
Sattur, 41-3, 50, 88, 113, 139, 158, 160-61, 166, 171, 172, 176
_Sayyids_, 92
Schlagintweit, Adolph, 274, 286
Semirechia, 299
Shah Murad Khan, 277
Shah Rukh, 268
Shakir Padshah, _Imam_, 206
Shamshir, 120-21
Shaw, Robert, 286-7
Sheep: fat-tailed, 26, 44, 303; Osh district, 26,44; Yarkand, 185-6; wolves and, 114, 124-5, 331; wild, of Marco Polo, 131, 143, 146, 324-32
Shirin, 156
Shrines, 68-72, 92-5, 205-7, 310, 320
_Sigm_ shrine, 320
Silk industry of Khotan, 213-15
Sir Daria, the, 20, 275-6
Snakes, 88
Snow-throwing custom, 321-2
Spiders, 88-9
Stein, Sir Aurel: researches of, 76, 84, 94, 98, 107, 218-19, 242, 259; returns from desert, 101-2; helps in Pamir preparations, 105, 106; bound for Persia, 166
Steppes, 15-16, 22
Stockholm, 5
“Stone Sheep-folds,” 114
Sturgeon, 8
Subashi, 162
Superstitions of Kashgari, 69, 318-320
Swedes, 5, 7-8
Swedish missionaries, 37, 44, 51, 52-53, 180, 184, 188-9, 190
Tagharma, 149, 152, 153
Taghdumbash Pamir, 155
Taghliks, 241
Taiping rebellion, 279-80
Tajiks, 242
Takla Makan desert, 84, 175, 195-7, 201-8, 236
Tamerlane, 216, 266-8
Tang dynasty, 255
_Taotai_ of Kashgar, 295-6
_Taoyin_, or Governor, 242, 244
Tarantchis, 272, 280
Tarikh-i-Rashidi, 266
Tashkent, 18-20, 276, 277, 282; fruit, 301
Tashkurghan, 149, 153-5, 177
Tashmalik oasis, 106-7
Taxes in Chinese Turkestan, 243-4, 306
Temple of Liu-Kin-tang, 97-8; of Pan Ghao, 67
Terek Dawan, 30-32, 36, 273
_Thum_ of Hunza, the, 187
Tian Shan, the, 25-37, 291
Tibetan invasion, 255, 257-8
_Tims_, 84
Tiznaf River, 192
_Togkrak_ tree, 225
Toghril, 263-4
Tokharistan, 252
Tombs of the Mongols, 95
Tora, _Haji_, 284
Torgut Mongols, 270-71
Tornea, 9
Trade of Chinese Turkestan, 245-7, 289
Trains, Scandinavian and Russian, 6, 13, 15, 17
Trans-Alai range, 134, 327
Treaty of St. Petersburg, 293
Trotter, Capt., 287, 326
Tsar’s prohibition edict, 9, 24, 47
Tse Wang Rabdan, 270
Tughluk Timur, 265-6
Tuman Su River, 55, 66
Tunganis, 200, 241-2, 271, 278-9, 280-81, 295
Turfan, 235, 250, 253, 255, 260, 280, 291
Turkestan, city of, 17
Turkey and Yakub Beg, 284-5
Turki: farriers, 62; language, 261; uncleanliness, 43
Turks: Chinese Turkestan under, 261; Northern, 255; Western, empire of, 254, 255
Uchak Valley: _ovis poli_ stalking in, 144, 329-31
Uighurs, 253, 258-9, 308
Ulughat Pass, 166-8
Urumchi, 242, 245, 259, 280, 290; Chinese Revolution in, 294-5, 297-8
Uzbegs, 268
Victoria, Queen, 289
Vyborg, 9
Wakhan incident, 145, 293-4
Wakhijir pass, 247
Wali Khan _Khoja_, 273-4, 286
Wang Khan, the, 264
Whistling, 12, 64
White Huns, 253-4
White Mountaineers, 269
Wolves, 114, 124-5, 331
Wood, Lieutenant, 129, 143, 325
Women: Chinese, 74, 75, 99-100; Dulani, 223, 226-6; Kashgari, 58-61, 64-65, 83, 92-3, 122, 310-15; Khotan, 211-12, 253; Kirghiz, 23, 114, 118-22, 133; Moslem, 26, 40, 64-5, 92-3, 264-5; Persian, 61; Russian peasant, 14; Sarikoli, 159; Takla Makan, 200; Tashkent, 20, 22; Yarkandi, 187-9
Wu Kung, 258
Yagello, Colonel, 144, 145
Yaks, 123-4, 143; riding, 162-4, 166-8
Yakub Beg: army of, 281-2; Britain and, 286-90; Buddhist monuments destroyed by, 67, 84; conquests of, 67, 71, 278-281; fort of, 213; garden belonging to, 188; overthrown by Chinese, 58, 70, 290-92; rest-houses built by, 181; Russia’s relations with, 282-6; tomb destroyed, 70
Yangi Hissar, 178, 180, 278
Yangi Shahr, 95-9, 240
Yarkand: arrival at, 182-4; bazars, 185-7; Goez in, 270; goitre, 184-5, 192; horses, 302; _Khojas_ beaten at, 273; mission colony, 188-9; oasis, 181, 191; population, 240, 246; Shaw at, 286-7; women, 187-9; Yakub Beg captures, 278-9
Yarkand River, 225, 226, 238, 239
Yelui Tashi, 261
Yezdigird III., 256
Yezid, 242
Yonoff, Colonel, 293-4
Yotkan, 218-19
Younghusband, Sir Francis, 136, 236, 293-4, 325
Yuan-Shih-Kai, 295-6
Yue-chi, or Indo-Scythians, 249, 250-53
Yurungkash River, 217
_Yuz Bashis_, 243
Zarafshan or Yarkand River, 238
Zawa oasis, 206, 208, 219-20
Zoroastrianism, 155, 256
Zungars, 270-71
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.
[Illustration: MAP to illustrate AUTHORS’ ROUTES.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Tashkent, Kashgar, Cossacks.
[2] The monarch in question was actually Khusru Parviz.
[3] _Iusce_ is _Yu-shih_ or Jade stone.
[4] To offer tea is a symbol of apology.
[5] _Si-Yu-Ki_, by S. Beal, ii. pp. 324, 325.
[6] _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 303.
[7] _La Haute Asie_, ii. 308.
[8] Most of these terms are new, the old titles having been abolished after the Revolution.
[9] There is considerable uncertainty about this date, which good authorities give as some decades earlier.
[10] _Cathay and the Way Thither_, vol. i. p. 101 (Cordier edition).
[11] Boghra signifies a male camel--names of animals being used by Turks as tribal names. It is an interesting form of totemism; _vide_ “La Légende de Satok Boghra et l’histoire,” _Journ. Asiat._, Jan.-Fév. 1900, pp. 24 _et seq._
[12] This province generally signifies the country lying to the north of the Tian Shan, but, as used in the text, the term includes the whole of the eastern division of the _Khanate_.
[13] The writer was _Mirza_ Haider, Gurkhan, who wrote a history of his ancestors, and also graphically described the events in which he sometimes played a leading part.
[14] “Journey to Ilchi Khotan (1866),” _J.R.G.S._ vol. 37 (1867).
[15] The text of the treaty is given in _The Life of Yakub Beg_, by D. G. Boulger.
[16] _Zir_ is the mark for the sound “i,” and _zabar_ for the sound “a”; their inclusion is apparently unmeaning.
[17] Vide _The Eastern Turkestan Dialect_, by G. Raquette.
[18] Vide _The Sheep and its Cousins_, by the late R. Lydekker, who termed the _poli_, _Ovis ammon poli_, and the _karelini_, _Ovis ammon littledalei_.
[19] “The Amir Yakub Khan and Eastern Turkestan in Mid-Nineteenth Century,” by Colonel Sir Henry Trotter, K.C.M.G., C.B. (_Journal of the Central Asian Society_, vol. iv., 1917, Part IV.).
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
The Index entry for Chinese Turkestan: taxes, has been corrected to page 306 from page 366 which does not exist.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.