YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

TRAVELS
IN THE
HIMALAYAN PROVINCES OF HINDUSTAN
AND THE PANJAB ;
IN
LADAKH AND KASHMIR;
IN PESHAWAR, KABUL, KUNDUZ,
AND
BOKHARA;
BY
Mu. WILLfAM MOORCROFT and Mk. GEORGE TREBECK,
from 1819 to 1825.

Prepared fur the Press, from Original Journals and Correspondence,
By HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, M.A., F.R.S ,
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, AND OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETIES OF PARIS AND
CALCUTTA; OF THE IMPERIAL SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS OF MOSCOW; OF THE
ROYAL ACADEMIES OF BERLIN AND MUNICH, ETC. ETC. ; AND PROFESSOR
OF SANSCRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

Published under the Authority of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

LONDON :
Printed by William Clowes and Sons,
Stamfotd Street.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PART II.

CHAPTER VIII.

Page

Mr. Moorcroft's Journey to Dras— Lucerne — Flowering
Plants — Nimo — Bagzo — Saspula Orchards — Lime-pounding
— Village Pestle — Himis — Native Physician — Sneurla —
Khalets — Chumas or Nuns — Sanga across the river — North
ward course of the Sinh-kha-hab — Lama Yuru — Temples and
Lamas — Religious Ceremonies — Musical Instruments— Pass
of Phatu La — Kanji River — Hiunaskoth — Kherbo — Laghan
— Nam-chu Pass — Zakut River — Figure of Chamba sculp
tured in the rock — Molbi — Nurse of the Nuna Khalun — Lot-
zun — Physicians — Gratitude of the People — Game of Poki —
Interview with the Raja— Old Bible — Pushkyum— Course of
the Pushkyum and Dras Rivers — Kartse River — Village of
Gonh — Prevalence of Goitre — Kartse Cheles— Neat Cattle
— Butter — Sheep — Schoolmasters — Mohammedanism —
Altered Costume — Deviation to Pharol — Nakpo River — San-
kho — Omba La, Pass — Marmots — Pass of Zwaje La — View
of the Valley of Himbab, or Dras— Visit to the Nuna Khalun
— Bed lost in the river — Native Attendants — Valley of Dras
—Climate — Population — Character of the People— Prangos 1
CHAPTER IX.
Excursion of Mr. Trebeck to Piti — Tung-lung Pass — Plain
of Rupshu — Religious Structures — Tents of Shepherds —
Whirlwinds — Lake of Thog-ji Chenmo — Pass of Nak-po-gon-
ding — Tsumereri Lake — Parang La Rivulet and Pass— a
a 2

IV CONTENTS. Page
Horse lost — Country improved— River of Losar — Report of
an English Traveller — Halt at Rerik— Captain Mercer on his
way to Sujanpur — Valley ofthe Losar, or Piti River— Fort of
Trankar— Frontier of Bisahar— Figure of Sakya — Radokh
Goat — Orders for a Levy of the People — Cause of Dispute
withKulu — Subterraneous "Watercourses — Description of Piti
— Village — Population — Village Councils — Revenue — Trade
— Harvest Festivities — Return — Storm at the Parang Pass
— Kiangs . . . 45

PART III.
CHAPTER I.
Relinquishment of the route by Yarkand — Departure from
Le — Friendly sentiments of the Authorities ; and of the
People — Wife of the Nuna Khalun — Upper road — Parties
met on the way — Fall of a horse — Pass — Valley of Dras — In
road from Hasora — Precipitate retreat — Mischief inflicted
— Causes of the aggression — Continuation of the route —
Phandas — Matayan — Boundary between Ladakh and Kash
mir — Entrance into Kashmir — Zwaje La Valley — Pine Forests
— Sona-murg— Sindh River — Station of Gagan-gir — Met by
Surat Sing and escort — Villages — Anchal Lake — Entrance
into the capital of Kashmir — Permission to winter in the
city . S3
CHAPTER II.
Description of Kashmir — Succession of Valleys and Moun
tains — Richness of Vegetation- — Moisture of Climate — Vitas-
tha or Behut river — Its feeders — Wular lake — Dal lake —
Extent of the valley of the Behut — Breadth of Kashmir — Divi
sions — Situation of city— Canals — Houses — Public Edifices
— Great Mosque — Bridges — Population — Distress — Disease
— Revenues — Character of the people — Literature — Dress
Food — Agricultural and other products — Grains — Rice — Sin-

CONTENTS. V
Page
hara, or Water-nut— Lotus-stem— Floating gardens— Fruit
— Vines — Walnut-trees -Forest- trees — Animals, &c. — Win
ter fodder — Cotton— Silk— Costus— Bees— Minerals : 106
CHAPTER III.
Arts and Manufactures of Kashmir— Shawl Manufacture
—Wool — Carriage — Mode of Sale — Prices of Wool— Sorting
— Cleaning — Phiri, or Seconds Wool — Spinning— Yarn —
Prices— Assortment according to Pattern — Dyeing— Ap
portioning — Dressing — Silk used for Borders— Drawing —
Weaving— Rates of Work — Loom — Pattern — Needles —
Shawl-Cloth — .Cleaning Shawls — Darning — Stamping —
Valuation — Washing — Drying — Packing — Articles of Shawl-
Stuff — Worked Shawls — List of Articles and Prices — Total
annual Value of Manufacture — Gun-barrels — Yerak Leather
— Pen-cases — Paintings — Paper . . .164
CHAPTER IV.
Excursion to the Deodar Forest — Kashmir Boats —
Vitastha — Shadehpur — Sambhalpur — Manas Lake — River
Naviga'tion — Villages — Entrance to the Wular Lake — Lanka
Island — Zein-ul-abaddin- — Shape and Character of the Lake
— Shooting — Sinhara nut — Fishing — Mountains— Supur —
Lalakoal River — Valley — Scenery — Peasantry — Uttar Dis
trict — Dardus — Ziarat of Ghyber Shah — Darvesh — Village
deserted — Segam— Deodar Forests — Return . . 218
CHAPTER V.
Visit to the Sources of the Behut — Canals — Dal Lake —
Ruined Temple — Ancient Pillar — Small Stream — Pampur
— Saffron — Sulphur Spring — Ruined Temple ofthe Pandus
— Wantipur — Ruins — Tral — Vijipara — Garden of Dara
Shekoh — Branches of the Behut — Islamabad — Vir-nag River
— Shahabad — Remains of Palace of Jehangir— Springs —
Visit to the Cave of Munda — Ruined Temples at Karewe
Matan— Sacred Pools at Bhuvan— Return , . 239

VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI. Page
Countries in the neighbourhood of Ladakh and Kashmir
— Amaranath — Little Tibet — Balti — Skardo — Steppe of
Deosu — Shigar — Shingo — Tsungaru — Kafalun — Kartakshe
— Nagar — Hounz — Gilgit — Chilas — Lower Chitral — Upper
Chitral — Wakkan — Road to Yarkand — Kara-kol Lake —
Kirghiz or Pamer — Siri-kol — Tagarma . 259
CHAPTER VII.
First departure from Kashmir — Patan — Ruins — Wular
Lake — Explosions — Tomb of Shukar-ad-din — Baramula —
Bamba and Khaka Country — Gilgil — Party detained — Re
turn — Second departure — Remains at Khampur — Shupien —
Tomb of Shah Hamadan — Pir Panchal Pass — Ridge of Ra-
tan Panchal — Rajaor — Bimber — Jelum — Fort of Rotas — ¦
Manikyala — Rawal Pindi — Garden of Wah — Hasan Abdal
—Tomb of Baba Wali— Plain of Chach— Indus— Attok —
Khairabad — Akora — Duties demanded — Attempt to detain
the party — Its failure — Abbas khan of Akora — Battle of Nou-
shehra — Peshawar— Hospitable reception — Mischief done by
the Sikhs — Navigation of the Indus— Political Difficulties
and Dissensions — Offer of Allegiance— Visit to the Waziris 274

PART IV.
CHAPTER I.
Departure from Peshawar — Jamrud — Khyber country —
Thieves — Pass — Topes — Afghan troops — Insolence and Cre
dulity of the Khyberis — Shenwar Khybers — Kafir castle —
Hot winds — Mountains — Caves in the rocks— Kama river —
Jelalabad — District — Town — Surkh-rud river — Chahar-bagh
— Sultanpur — Orchards — Wandering Giljis — Bala-bagh —
Congress — Topes of Amara-khel — Ancient Coins — Lam-
ghan — Kaferistan — Bimba— District of Gandamak — Bridge
over the Surkhab— Pass of Jagdelak — of Katalang — Storm
—Heft Kotel— Kabul . 345

CONTENTS. vii

Page

CHAPTER II.
Departure from Kabul— Alarm of the Followers, and De
sertion—Fort of AUahdad Khan— Threshing Corn— Thieves
— Mydan— Sir-cheshme — Trout— Winter Forage — Forts—
Helmand River— Pass of Hajikak— Hazaras — Bamian—
Figures— Paintings— Caves— Origin— Sykan— Afghan Ex
tortion — Assafcetida— Slaves— Khurm — Aibek— Apricots—
The Wali— Takhti Rustam— Caves— Hill . 376
CHAPTER III.
Return of Messengers to Kunduz— Unfavourable Reports
— Advance— Excavations of Bazar Sum — Horses— Houses
— Tangi — Khulm or Tash Kurghan— Baba Beg— Visit to
Kunduz — Yang Arekh— Reservoirs — Pass of Arganna—
Plain of Kunduz-Ghori river— Town and Fort— Atma Ram-
Audience of Murad Beg— Suspicions of the Chief— Difficulties
— Enemies — Persian cannon — Return to Khulm — Delays —
Exorbitant Duties— Departure of Mir Izzet Ullah— Sum
mons to Kunduz— Detention — Charge of being a Spy — Re
moval of Goods to Kunduz — Izzet Ullah's return — Audience
— Military expedition of Murad Beg . . 408
CHAPTER IV.
Favourable testimonials — Return of Wazir Ahmed — Ex
tortion of Murad Beg — Departure to Khulm— Izzet Ullah's
final departure — Absence of Mr. Guthrie — Tash Kurghan—
Old Khulm — Renewed summons to Kunduz — Charges by
Mohammed Amin — Flight of Mr. Moorcroft to Talikan—
Appeal to Kasim Jan, the spiritual guide of Murad Beg — He
takes Mr. Moorcroft under his protection— Interviews with
Baba Beg and Khan Jan — Confronted with Mohammed Amin
— The latter dismissed — Private representations of the Pir
Zada — Arrival of Murad Beg — Final adjustment . 445

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

Notice of Kasim Jan — Translations from Gibbon — Lodging
— Food — Prince of Badakhshan — Talikan — Khyrabad —
Departure from Talikan — Kunduz — Interview with the Mir
— Shah-bagli pass — Fossil Shells — Tash Kurghan— Mazar
— Deh dada — Orchards— Greyhounds — Balkh— Ruined Ba
zar— Storm — Plain of the Oxus — Akberabad — Farakhabad
— Khaja Saleh— Oxus — Ferry-boats — Kazak encampment —
Optical illusion — Karshi — Visit to the Prince — Departure —
Arrival at Bokhara .... 479

TRAVELS
IN
THE PANJAB, LADAKH, KASHMIR,
&c.

PART II.— RESIDENCE IN LADAKH.

CHAPTER VIII.

Mr. Moorcroft's Journey to Dras — Lucerne — Flowering Plants —
Nimo — Bagzo— Saspula Orchards — Lime-pounding — Village
Pestle — Himis — Native Physician — Sneurla — Khalets — Chu-
mas or Nuns — Sanga across the river— Northward course of the
Sinh-kha-bab — Lama Yuru — Temples and Lamas — Religious
Ceremonies — Musical Instruments— Pass of Phatu La — Kanji
River — Hiunaskoth — Kherbo — Laghan — Nam-chu Pass —
Zakut River — Figure of Chamha sculptured in the rock — Molbi
— Nurse of the Nuna Khalun — Lotzun — Physicians— Gratitude
of the People — Game of Polo — Interview with the Raja— Old
Bible — Pushkyum— Course of the Pushkyum and Dras Rivers
— Kartse River — Village of Gonh — Prevalence of Goitre —
Kartse Cheles — Neat Cattle — Butter — Sheep— Schoolmasters
— Mohammedanism — Altered Costume — Deviation to Pharol —
Nakpo River — Sankho — Omba La. Pass — Marmots— Pass of
Zwaje La — View of the Valley of Himbab, or Dras— Visit to
the Nuna Khalun — Bed lost in the river — Native Attendants
— Valley of Dras — Climate — Population — Character of the
People — Prangos.
At the same time that my young friend was
dispatched to Piti I undertook an excursion
to Dras, and left Le for that purpose on the
VOL. II. b

2 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PAKT II.
10th of June. The sowing of wheat had been
finished at the end of May, and the most for
ward plants were now five inches high. Pease
and beans were also above the ground. Lu
cerne was only just bushing where the soil
was dry, but where it was well watered it was
full and high. In Ladakh this grass is almost
an aquatic: though in India it perishes if
long under water in the rainy season. It is
also worthy of remark, that in this country
pure gravel, without mould or clay, will rear
lucerne if it be plentifully watered. The
plants now in flower were varieties of the iris,
dog-rose, butter-cup, shepherd's-purse, and
clematis. The ordinary birds of the country
were flying about, except the geese and
ducks, which had deserted the river and had
gone to breed in the mountains. Flies were
not numerous, but there were musquitoes on
the low grounds. Our camp was pitched in
a willow-garden, near the Phiang rivulet,
where I remained next day, to acknowledge
letters I had received in the night from Hin
dustan by way of Kashmir.
Part of the road from Nimo to Bagzo lies
through the cultivated fields of the former,

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 3
now under barley and wheat, of which the
former was in ear, and part over a sandy bar
ren, bounded on the left by the river, and on
the right by low alluvial mountains, formed
from the ruins of the nearest primary range.
The lands of Bagzo lie in a slope, beginning
narrow from the north-west, and widening to
the east, and consist of a reddish clay. The
crops were good, but neither so rich nor for
ward as at Nimo. The town was perched upon
the face of a rock, and was formerly defended
by works to the east and west, which were
now in ruins. This is the case with all similar
structures in Ladakh, and argues either a feel
ing of security or the poverty of the state.
The road beyond Bagzo leads along a nar
row water-way, flanked by pebble and clay
walls, and ascends to a line of the structures
called Mani-panis : it then divides ; the right
path going by Ling to Himis, and the left by
Saspula ; the former, though the more cir
cuitous, is that taken with loaded cattle, as
the latter, leading over the pass of Lagang
Kuje, in the hills which from Nimo inter
vene between the road and the river, is more
difficult. Saspula, on the right bank of the
b 2

4 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
river, is celebrated for its apricots. Amongst
its orchards I noticed several of the trees with
rams' horns let into the bark, and so covered
by it as to be at first undistinguishable. They
were in general inserted in the angle formed
between a branch and the stem. Upon in
quiring the meaning of this addition, it was
stated that the horns were thus engrafted as a
propitiatory offering at the time of an eclipse,
and that trees so honoured bore ever after
wards an unfailing crop of the choicest fruit.
At Saspula the Lompa had a house : his wife,
who was a daughter of the Giah Raja, and ap
parently twice as old as her husband, sent me
some flour, dried apricots, and apples, and tur
nip-tops as greens, with her regret that her
husband was not at home to show me suitable
attention. At this place I observed some
women engaged in pounding lime. The mor
tar was a hole cut in a block of stone, and the
pestle a heavy oblong stone rounded at the
end. This apparatus is usually public pro
perty ; one sometimes serves for a village,
but, in general, one is found at each extremity
of it. When the lime was pounded it was burnt
and mixed with water, to form a white-wash

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 5
for the exterior of the houses. These public
mortars are applied to various uses, as to the
bruising of rape and mustard-seed, which are
then kneaded and squeezed with warm water
for the extraction of their oil. Apricot ker
nels are treated in the same way, and the fra
grant oil expressed from them is used by the
women for their hair. The mortar is also
employed for bruising the wild madder-root,
which, mixed with aluminous earth and py
rites, forms a brown dye for the woollen dresses
of the men, and the trousers of women. The
most frequent employment of the mortar, how
ever, is the reduction of dried goats' dung to
a fine powder, which thickly laid upon a
sheep-skin with the wool outwards, forms the
only bedding provided for infants until they
are more than a twelvemonth old. The ad
vantage of the powder is, that any part of it
which is incidentally moistened can be readily
removed and replaced.
From Saspula we proceeded along the skirts
of the clay-hills on our right, and ascended to
a single house, surrounded by cultivation, where
the two roads from Bagzo to Himis reunite.
From thence we continued our route over un-

6 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
dulating ground, the main line of hills which
ran east and west being frequently interrupted
by small glens and valleys, crossing it from
north to south, and giving passage to rivulets
flowing towards the Sinh-kha-bab. After
crossing one of these by a sanga, we came to
the village of Himis, consisting of a number
of houses scattered irregularly over the sides
of a green hill, and down a valley leading to
the main river. The lofty mountains on the
opposite side of the river were discernible
from the high ground, and were tipped with
snow. When I was setting off from Himis, on the
15th of June, the physician of the lower vil
lage arrived in breathless haste, bringing me
a present of some wheaten cakes, and a cop
per tea-pot, beautifully ornamented with fret
work of brass. It was of the manufacture of
Chi Ling, opposite to Saspula, and had cost
ten rupees. On expressing my regret at his
having taken such unnecessary trouble, he
replied that it was the duty of the hakim
(the doctor) of any place visited by the sirdar
or chief of hakims, to show their respect,
and he was only sorry that he was so late.

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 7
He had been present, it appeared, at an opera
tion I had successfuly performed on the eyes
of Tsangre Sundar, of Chuchut. I of course
acknowledged his civility, and made him a
present of a gum lancet in return ; an instru
ment not essentially differing in form, but in
finitely superior in finish and sharpness, to
the stakpo, or lancet used in Ladakh for vene
section. The road from Himis to Sneurla, after con
tinuing some way on high ground, crosses
what may be considered a pass ; and then, for
the most part, descends towards the village.
On the way it approaches close to the right
bank of the Indus, and meets a lower road,
used by foot passengers, along the river, from
Saspula. Sneurla, or, as the Kashmirians call
it, Nur-ullah, is near the river, and is lower
and warmer than the country we have yet
passed. Trees were in consequence more
numerous, and, in addition to the usual fruit-
trees, willows and poplars abounded, and the
fragrant sirsing was plentiful. I observed also,
besides the single rose, the double rose, or
maiden's blush, and the blue sweet-scented
columbine, called by a native name signify-

8 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
ing asses' sugar (bombo khaira) ; why, I could
not learn. Here I first noticed the appear
ance of any unhealthiness amongst the apple-
trees, which may arise from the thinness of
the soil.
From Sneurla the road passed along the
right bank of the Sinh-kha-bab, which was
about thirty yards broad, and rolled along
with great rapidity and high broken waves.
High-peaked mountains approached close to
the left bank, but left a narrow slip of land,
along which huts, orchards, and cultivated
fields were occasionally visible. The hills on
the right bank also approached, at times, near
to the river ; but they were neither precipitous
nor lofty, and consisted of schistus and red
clay. After crossing a deep water-course we
came to the village of Khalets, or Khaletse,
one of the largest in Ladakh. It has more
orchard-trees than Sneurla, and amongst them
the walnut, which produces very fine fruit. The
river flows near it, but considerably below its
level : at first sight, the situation appears un
favourable, presenting to southward a line of
towering rocks, and encircled, nearly from
east to west, by a ridge of brown and barren

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 9
hills. The cultivated ground is, however, of
good quality, though rather incommodiously
laid out in terraces. The grain sown here
ripens in three months, and a second crop of
buck-wheat or of turnips is obtained from the
same soil.
A kind of sherbet is common here, made by
mixing water with dried apples or apricots
pounded. A number of chumas, or Buddhist
nuns, were met with, who were very curious
about my objects, my dress, habits, &c, apo
logising at the same time, with unaffected
civility, for being so inquisitive. When we
started early in the morning of the 17th, the
women of the village were abroad, some water
ing the corn-fields, some collecting grass for
their flocks, and some preparing the web for
their woollen cloth. The cattle of the village
had escaped the epidemic better than most,
and formed a flock of eight hundred sheep and
goats, chiefly the latter.
Immediately beyond Khalets we came to a
wall and door-way leading to a sanga across
the river. The bridge was substantially con
structed, resting on two scarped rocks, and was
about thirty yards long. The river was not

10 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
more than twenty yards broad, and was roll
ing black and impetuously about twelve feet
below it*. On the left bank the path led
under an arched passage through a tall Mani-
pani. After following the left bank of the Sinh-
kha-bab for a short distance, we took our final
leave of it, as it turned off towards the north.
Its course could be discerned for some way to
west, half north, and then again more north
erly still, between low gravelly hills, along the
summit of which, on its right bank, was a good
road, going, it was said, to Balti. At the
point where we quitted it it was joined by the
Yunga-chu, a considerable rivulet coming
from the west, and repeatedly intersecting
the road. It was crossed by rough sangas.
As we ascended the road was contracted by
the advancing rocks on either hand, to a nar
row defile, scarcely leaving a path sometimes

* It is worthy of notice,. that when Mr. Treheck crossed the same
bridge on the following November, he observed it was " forty-five or
fifty feet above the water.-' Admitting that neither statement
may be quite correct, the error, cannot exceed a few feet, and the
two accounts afford satisfactory evidence of the great rise of the
river in the summer months, occasioned by the melting of the
snow on the adjacent mountains. — Ed.

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 1 I
along the edge of the stream. On quitting
the course of the main rivulet, the path con
tinued along much the same sort of dell, until
we approached the monastery and village of
Lama Yuru, where it widened into a valley
about two hundred paces broad.
Lama Yuru is the site of a very large esta
blishment of Gelums and Chumas, amounting,
according to some accounts, to five hundred.
They do not all reside together, but are dis
persed amongst the people, as in every house
there is a chamber appropriated to the Deity,
and to a Gelum, whose business it is to place
food and lights before the image, repeating
prayers and beating a drum. They are all
subject to one chief, who is a native of Lassa,
and whose authority extends over the whole
country west of Le. He divides his time be
tween Phiang and this place, living a year at
each alternately. There were three temples
at Lama Yuru; the principal one was situated
on the top of a low hill, on the sides and
along the base of which were the houses of
the village, about a hundred in number. These
were built, as usual, of brick and wood, and
were painted red and white, denoting their

12 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
dependence upon the monastery. The situa
tion was elevated and cold, and fruit-trees
were rare ; cultivation was late, and there was
rather a deficiency of water for irrigation.
One of my horses having slipped into the
rivulet on our march, and, although extri
cated, much bruised and cut by his fall, I
deemed it advisable to halt a day (June 18)
at this place, and availed myself of the op
portunity to witness the religious service of
the Lamas. They were summoned to
prayers about eight o'clock by the beat of a
drum. Each, as he entered the temple,
raised his joined hands above his head, then
opened, and again closed them before his
breast. Next he placed them on the ground,
so as to rest upon them whilst touching the
floor with his forehead, in prostration before
the images of Sakya Muni and his sancti
fied disciples and successors. The Lamas
then sat down in rows from east to west,
from the door to the shrine, upon cushions of
felt, or low wooden benches. One of them
had a sort of reading-desk before him, with
the leaves of a book, from which he read,
and was followed by the rest in the recita-

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 13
tion. They then began a performance of in
strumental music, almost each man being
provided with some instrument. The ma
jority had small flat drums, but I noticed
also two horns or cornets of copper, two
large cymbals, two hautboys, two trumpets,
and a bell. The hautboys were made of
wood, with silver mouth-pieces, and shifting
reeds. The trumpets were of copper, eight
or ten feet long, and made with three joints,
like those of a telescope. The open end was
about five inches in diameter, the mouth
piece small. The tone was clear and deep,
and might be heard to a great distance, but
it requires long practice to blow the instru
ment properly. Nothing could be harsher
than the sounds emitted by unpractised
players,. In the temple the trumpet rested
on the ground : when used in processions a
young Lama assists in carrying it. The
drum was not above five inches deep, and
about twenty in breadth. It was suspended
by a ring on one side to a cord stretched
across the chamber, and, being steadied by
the player with his left hand, was beaten by
him with a crooked metallic rod, capped with

14 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
leather on the striking end. The recitations
or chants alternated with the music, which,
though monotonous, was not unpleasing, and
the strength and spirit of the singers and
players were kept up by copious libations of
tea and chang.
The monastery of Lama Yuru is invested
with the privileges of a sanctuary, which
they assert have been confirmed to it by
edicts from the Emperors of Delhi and
their governors of Kashmir. Documents
which they showed me, with the seals of
Aurungzeb, Fidai Khan, and Shir Khan,
were, however, only to the purpose of direct
ing that the Gelums should not be disturbed
in their religious usages, and that their lands
should not be encroached upon. A similar
injunction has lately been obtained by them
from Ahmed Shah, the Shiah Raja of Balti,
drawn up in more explicit language, and a
still more liberal spirit. At the request of
the acting superior I left with him a paper
expressing my acknowledgments of his hos
pitality. The neighbourhood of Lama Yuru abounds
with wild goats, but the Lamas objected to

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 15
our shooting any, as animal, as well as hu
man life, should be sacred within the pre
cincts of their sanctuary. Mr. Guthrie, how
ever, brought one down amongst the rocks
at some distance. He was too much injured
by falling from a height to admit of very
particular description, but the general cha
racter was allied both to the sheep and the
deer. From Lama Yuru a road goes to
Zanskar, which is said to be a journey of six
days. The road from Lama Yuru continued
rough and ascending, until it crossed the
crest of the Phatu La, a lofty pass, of the ele
vation of nearly fourteen thousand feet, in the
ravines and recesses, adjoining which beds of
snow were observable. After descending we
proceeded along the right bank of the Kanji,
a mountain stream coming from the south
ward at no great distance, and fed by dif
ferent watercourses which crossed our path.
Beyond the village or town of Eunasko*, a
place consisting of about twenty-five houses
and an old fort, the river was crossed by a
sanga where it was about thirty feet broad,
rapid, but not deep. Farther on at Kherbo,
* Hiunaskoth. Trebeck.

16 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
on its left bank, it expanded to a breadth of
one hundred and fifty feet. The village of
Kherbo was one of several which were situated
on the skirts of a long, narrow valley, which
was terraced and cultivated. It seemed to be
in a state of decay, many of the houses were
in ruins, and the people declared they were
unable to furnish us with supplies. The
poverty and dilapidation of the place were
ascribed partly to a snow slip, which had
destroyed many dwellings, and partly to the
great havoc made by the late epidemic
amongst the sheep. A third, and more mis
chievous cause, was the rapacity of the chief
man, or Garpun. In the vicinity of Kherbo
were several fortified enclosures, strongly situ
ated on rugged rocks, but more or less in
ruins. On this day's march we encountered
several showers of rain, and twice we heard
thunder, low and distant. The mountains on
our right were not lofty, and presented some
what gentle slopes; those on our left were
steeper, but not more elevated. Corn is
raised abundantly in this neighbourhood,
and the surplus crop is sent, after the har
vest, to Le, where it is exchanged chiefly
for salt brought from Chan-than. As there

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 17
was no obtaining fuel or fodder at Kherbo
we advanced beyond it a short distance to
Laghan, a small village on the right bank of
the Kanji, in the same valley.
Crossing the river we advanced along its
left bank to the village of Kanre, whence the
Kanji runs off to the northward and falls
into the Indus* From hence the road as
cended to the pass of Namikar, from which
an extensive view presented itself of the val
ley of Molbi, and of a lofty chain of moun
tains beyond Kartse, one in particular tower
ing high above the rest, and capped with
snow. The descent lay over lower hills of
clay soil, covered with a dwarf grass, on
which large flocks of goats and Purik sheep
were browsing, to a valley watered by a con
siderable stream, the Zakut, coming from the
south-east. This river rises, it is said, about
three days' journey off, and, flowing by
Molbi and Pushkyum, receives the Kanji,
and falls into the Indus. Near the .end of
this day's journey (20th June) the road
* According to information given to Mr. Moorcroft, the Kanji
joins the Pushkyum river before it meets the Indus : from Mr.
Trebeck's inquiries, however, it proceeds to the latter direct. — Ed.
VOL. II. C

18 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
passed between the foot of the mountains on
the right of the valley and an insulated pillar
of rock, about fifty feet high. On the face
of this was sculptured the figure of one of
the Tibetan divinities, named Chamba. It
differed from the same representation in the
temples in being decorated with the Brah-
minical cord hanging from the left shoulder
and over the right hip. The figure was
naked except round the waist, and was about
twenty-four feet high, but the lower part was
concealed by a low wall in front : the upper
had been protected by a screen projecting
over it from the rock ; but this was gone,
leaving only the holes in which the pins that
had fastened it had been inserted.
The valley of Molbi is of considerable ex
tent, and several straggling villages occur
along the northern bank of the river. On
the south the mountains come close to the
stream, and are of considerable height. The
Nuna Khalun has a residence at Molbi, but
he was absent at Dras. His youngest son
was in the village, and, during my absence,
had come to the enclosure in which my tent
was pitched, but had shown no inclination to

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 19
give my people any assistance in procuring
supplies. I, therefore, determined not to
trouble him by any application, and we ma
naged, though indifferently, to dispense with
his aid. The nurse of the young man, how
ever, on whom, some time before, I had suc
cessfully operated for cataract, brought me a
pile of wheat cakes, with some butter, milk,
and flowers. The house of the Khalun
stood upon the side of a hill, and was of
considerable size, though indifferently con
structed. Crowning a high rock above it was
a building which answered the purpose of a
fort. A small toll is levied at Molbi on mer
chandise, especially on shawl-wool. The
next day we marched to the village of
Lotzun, along the right bank of the river,
and over such rugged ground that our horses
were much more distressed and exhausted
•
than on many much longer journeys. I had
intended to have gone on to Pushkyum, but
at Lotzun I was entreated to stop, and give
surgical assistance to several blind persons.
The hakim, or physician of the village,
cleared a couple of rooms in his house for
c 2

20 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
the accommodation of my party, and my
bed was placed in the viranda of a small
mosque, the pillars of which were festooned
with wreaths of flowers and ears of corn,
presenting a curious mixture of Lamaism
and Mohammedanism, the bulk of the peo
ple from hence to Kashmir being Moham
medans of the Shiah sect. Every village
has its physician, who is called Aba, or
father. The physician of Lotzun brought me
several patients, including his own son, and
before I started on the 22nd I operated on
three individuals for cataract. The gratitude
of the people was expressed by abundant
fees of wheat cakes and butter, which I was
obliged to accept, that I might not wound
their feelings, as a refusal would have indi
cated to them my dissatisfaction or disdain.
On the 22nd I resumed the march to
Pushkyum, continuing to follow the course
of the river. When we arrived near the vil
lage we crossed the latter to the left bank by
a sanga. At the foot of the bridge a young
man ran to my horse, and, after making
sundry obeisances, took hold of the flap of

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 21
my coat, and put it to his forehead, and,
whilst so engaged, was joined by an old man,
who went through the same ceremony. They
then pressed me to pitch my tent in the
shade of some willow trees, where they said
I should soon see the Raja. I thought, at
first, they were his messengers, but I found
that the old man had recovered his sight by
an operation I had performed the year before
at Le, and the other was his son. When I
had complied with their request they disap
peared, but presently returned with pro
vender for our horses, and firewood for our
selves, some flour, and a sheep ; and no per
suasion could prevail upon them to take
back the articles, or receive their value in
return. This was the only way, they said,
in which they could show their gratitude for
the blessing I had conferred upon the old
man, and they prayed me not to reject such
an expression of their thanks. I, therefore,
accepted their presents, and was well
pleased, though not at all surprised, to find
so lively a sense of obligation entertained by
these simple people.
My tent was pitched on a narrow stripe of
stony land, between the river and a flat

22 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
about two hundred yards long by thirty
broad. This, it appeared, was the play
ground of the village for the game of polo,
for presently the Raja arrived on horseback
with about forty persons, all mounted, and
armed with rackets, who, dividing into two
sets, commenced playing with great spirit.
On the cessation of the diversion the Raja
sent me a pot of tea and a plate of satu, and
intimated his wish to see me the next day,
when he should return to the Mall. Accord
ingly on the day following, about noon, he
arrived at a sort of summer house, near the
playground, where I was invited to meet
him. The interview was merely an ex
change of civilities, and then he set off
again to his sport, in which he received a
severe blow from the bat of one of his fol
lowers : he bore it with great "good humour.
It appears he has only of late become a con
vert to Islam. His wife, who is a daughter
ofthe Nuna Khalun, professes the Buddhist
faith. A Say id, who seemed to act as his
ghostly adviser, produced a book which had
descended from his grandfather to the Raja,
and which proved to be an edition of the Old
and New Testament from the Papal press,

CH. VIII.J RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 23
dated in the year 1598. It was bound in
Morocco, with the initials I. H. S., sur
mounted by a cross, stamped on each side of
the cover. How it had come there no person
could inform me, but it might possibly have
been given to the former Raja by Desideri,
who visited Ladakh, although it is very
doubtful if he reached Le. The Khalun and
Khaga Tan-zin made, at my request, very
particular inquiry regarding any evidence of
a European having been at Le before us, and
no proof nor tradition of such an occurrence
could be traced.
Pushkyum consists of a number of houses
scattered along two valleys ; the eastern is
narrow, the western may be half a mile broad,
disposed in terraces, and well cultivated with
wheat and barley. Lucern was growing in
profusion, being cultivated and raised from
the seed of the wild mountain lucern. Push
kyum is the principal place between Le and
Kashmir, and although it has no regular ba
zar, it contains a few shops where flour, butter,
rice, and other provisions are to be purchased.
The inhabitants are all Mohammedans, and a
number of mosques have been erected ; but,

24 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
in general, they are mean and dirty hovels.
Shortly after leaving Pushkyum the river
diverged from the road, proceeding more to
the north of west. At Kargil, about two kos
distant, it meets with the Kartse river com
ing from the south-west. The united stream
shortly afterwards meets another trunk, formed
by the union of the rivers of Dras and Shingo,
and the whole then flow in one main stream,
called the Chudresa, which joins the Sinh-
kha-bab at Moral, in Balti, which is said to
be four days' journey on foot from Pushkyum.
The passage by water, in winter, may be ac
complished in a day * We soon encountered
the Kartse river, running with a considerable
body of water, and being in some places a
hundred feet broad. It is said to rise from
the snows of Pinji La, in Zanskar, about six
or seven days' journey distant. We crossed
* On the 18th of November Mr. Trebeck, following a rather
more northern route, came to the junction of the Dras and Kartse
rivers, on the road between Pushkyum and Chenagan : he fol
lowed the course of the former, and on the 19th came to the two
branches, forming the Kinon Wei from Shingo in Balti, above
twenty miles to the north-west, and the Sin Wei, or Dras river.
The road then proceeded along the banks of the latter river by
Shimsha and Gindial, and leaving the Ombta La on the left, ar
rived at the end of the valley on the 21st, — Ed.

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 25
it by a substantial sanga to the village of
Gonh. This village was situated in a close
valley, of about three miles long and half a
mile broad, divided by the Kartse into two
lateral portions. It was flanked by steep and
high mountains.the summit of which presented
an almost unbroken ridge. The valley sloped
gently, and bore a variety of herbage; the
houses were scattered along the foot of the
rocks. It is said to be cold in winter, and in
summer, when there is no wind, it is intensely
hot. In these characteristics, however, it
partakes with very many of the villages in
this part of Ladakh, and they afford no expla
nation of the great prevalence of goitre here,
such indeed as to have given a name to the
place, Gonh, meaning enlarged neck. Still less
do they explain why the complaint is almost
confined to the women, scarcely a woman
being free from it, whilst it was rare amongst
the men. The latter are like the rest of their
countrymen ; but the women, when young,
have handsome features, and a complexion
little darker than brunette. Whatever local
cause affects the one sex must equally, it is
to be supposed, affect the other, and this case

26 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
is only one out of many in which the occur
rence of this complaint, so common in the
mountain districts, varies in places, and
amongst people, to all appearance, similarly
circumstanced as to site, climate, water, food,
and every presumable predisposing or excit
ing cause. From Gonh we proceeded along
a similar valley to Kartse Cheles, a village in
a bottom, with abundance of land in cultiva
tion, the wheat and barley crops on which
promised to be fit for the sickle in three weeks.
The valley might have been a continuation of
that of Gonh, except for the strangulated por
tion intervening where the rocks left barely
space for the passage of the river. Goitre was
also common, but it prevailed as much amongst
the men as the women, though it was some
thing larger in the latter. The cows of this
district were more numerous, and in .better
condition than any I had seen since leaving
the southern hills. They were small, but well
shaped, with small horns; the prevailing
colour was black, but it varied to pure red,
and mixed with white. They are pastured
on the hills, during the day, on lucern and
white clover, and at night are fed with the

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 27
wild oat, gathered from amongst the corn for
this purpose. Before being taken to their
sheds they browsed upon some common pas
ture-grass, which was flooded an hour before
their return. Two cows were fastened toge
ther by a rope attached to willow rings passed
through their noses, and children were em
ployed to prevent their straying.
The butter looked well, and as I had not
tasted any in its natural state for two years, I
promised myself a treat. I was disappointed,
for it retained too much of the musty flavour
of the old and unwashed skin in which it had
been churned to be palatable. The yak, it
is said, cannot live here, but the female thoma,
from the male yak and the common cow, was
numerous and handsome. It was said to give
more milk than the cow. The sheep were
small but of pretty good fleece. The lucern-
fields of both kinds were good, and the general
character of the country was fertility and
abundance. The cottages were numerous,
scattered along both sides of the river, in so
straggling a manner, that it was not very easy
to determine the limits of the villages. In
each of these was an akhund, or village school-

28 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
master, and one or two individuals who could
speak Persian or Hindustani. Every village
had its mosque, and not a single Lama's house,
or sculptured pile, made its appearance. Is-
lamism is evidently making rapid strides, and
there is every reason to expect that before
long Ladakh will be entirely a Mohammedan
state. The Balti chief had agents in Pushkyum
and the vicinity, who were detaching the af
fections of the peasantry from the government
at Lis, and it was whispered that the chiefs of
Pushkyum and of Soth meditated throwing
off their allegiance, under the protection of
the Balti Raja. Soth is but a few hours'
journey from Pushkyum, on the right bank of
the river, and consists of a village and a fort,
the latter on a high and commanding eleva
tion. With the change from Lamaism to Is-
lamism an alteration has taken place in the
costume of the women. Instead of the argus
jacket and patchwork petticoat, a loose brown
or black woollen tunic with sleeves, open in
front to below the bosom, hangs from the
shoulders nearly to the feet. It is sometimes
tied round the waist with a girdle, but is com-

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 29
monly left loose in warm weather; underneath
it the common dark woollen trowser was re
tained, but no boots were seen at this season.
On the head the Tibetan lappet was displaced
by a brown woollen cap ; the hair was bound in
a tress, and near the end was fastened a flat
ornament, round or square, of coloured wors
ted-work, from which the usual tassels de
pended. Necklaces of coral or glass beads
were worn, and amulets, of a piece of silk, with
a verse from the Koran, were bound round the
arm. The men had not deviated so much
from the national garb, but wore fewer orna
ments. I had promised the Chugzat Lama of Himis
that when I reached Kartse I would pay a
visit to his brother, the head man, or Chuchu
of Tamis, on the opposite bank of the river.
The river was, however, now unfordable, and
the sanga was high up ; it was therefore ar
ranged that I should meet him at Pharol,
where he had a residence ; and we left Kartse
for that place on the 26th. The valley in
which it is situated runs nearly north and
south, and is divided into two parts by the
Kartse Chu. The mountains enclosing it

30 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART I.
were lofty, and those on the south were thickly
covered with snow. In the day the sun was
distressingly hot, whilst at night warm cover
ing was indispensable. Goitre was here very
common : the water was soft ; whilst at Gonh
it was too hard to mix with soap ; but so it
was at Le, where goitre does not prevail : at
all three it is derived chiefly from melted
snow. On the 27th the Chuchu, with his son
and several attendants, arrived, and were en
tertained at my tent.
Hearing from the Chuchu that the sheep, of
which I was desirous of collecting a small
flock, were likely to be procured more advan
tageously at some village higher up the river
than at Pharol, I set off in that direction.
Passing through the cultivated lands of that
village, we descended by an easy slope to
those of Sankho, on the left bank of the
Nakpo chu, or black water. This stream
comes from the west, and falls into the Kartse
on its left bank. It is formed of two streams,
the Mazadi and the Omba, from mountains
so named. The water of the former is clear,
of the latter dirty black ; the latter flowing
over the face of some soft black rocks, and

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 31
washing down a great quantity of the soil. It
discolours the Kartse, along its left bank, for
some distance after entering it. Two miles
higher up the Kartse receives a considerable
accession, on its right bank, from the Pulumba
chu, coming from the east in the direction of
Zamkar. Part of the road lay through nar
row stony lanes, on each side of which the
wild rose formed a beautiful and fragrant
hedge. At one place a height commanded a
view of the lands and villages of Sankho,
lying in an amphitheatre bounded by moun
tains, on the tops of which snow was yet un-
melted. The only timber consisted of pollard
willows, and some fruit-trees ; but the slopes
of the hills were diversified by patches of ver
dure, and numerous flocks of goats and sheep,
giving me a more favourable view of the pro
duce of shawl-wool in Ladakh than I had been
accustomed to entertain.
On my arrival at Sankho I found that a re
port of my purpose had preceded me, and so
raised the price of the sheep that it was im
possible to effect the purchase. I therefore left
a commission with the Chuchu to procure for
me the requisite number under more favour-

32 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
able circumstances, and resumed my journey
towards Dras. Goitre was not common at
Sankho, but it is said to be much more fre
quent on the lands on the eastern or right
bank of the river in the same valley.
From Sankho we ascended the Nakpo chu
along its right bank, a little more than a mile,
to the village and lands of Stak-pa, where the
sward reminded me of the pastures of Britain,
consisting of a poa grass, white clover, plan
tain, dandelion, dock, bugloss, &c. The cat
tle were numerous and in good condition.
The tilled lands were extensive, and laid out
in slopes, but not supported by walls, and in
general the cultivation was unusually slovenly
for Tibet.
On the 30th of June we commenced the
ascent of the steep and difficult pass of the
Omba mountain. On the way we crossed the
Mizadi, coming from the south-west, and pour
ing its waters with impetuosity into the Nakpo
chu. It was forded with some difficulty, and
we had then to ford the Nakpo chu, which
was rushing along a broad and stony bed with
much foam and fury. On an extensive level,
interrupting the ascent, stood the village of

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 33
Omba, consisting of three clusters of houses,
on the right bank of a rivulet, the Omba-chu
coming from the mountain on the north, and
joining the Nakpo-chu just below the village.
The latter flows from the Braknak mountain,
about a mile off, in a direction to the south
west. The situation of Omba was high and the
winter had been severe. There were still im
mense masses of unmelted snow in the bed of
the river, and I was told that, during the pre
ceding winter, snow had fallen in the village
to the depth of twelve feet, cutting off all
communication with the neighbouring village,
and sometimes blocking up the people in
their houses for a week together. On our way
up the ascent, between a village called Un-
dih and Omba, I first met with the Prangos.
On the 1st of July we continued our up^
ward path, and with much labour and diffi
culty reached the crest of the Omba La.
The view from the crest presented a majestic
line of snow- covered mountain-tops, very little
above the level of the pass, extending round
a circle of at least twenty miles in diameter.
The uniformity of the ridges was very re
markable, for, although broken with peak and
VOL. II. d

34 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
gorge, yet there were no single mountains or
mountain - chains that towered ambitiously
above their fellows. The descent was abrupt,
but not very difficult, passing occasionally
over firm beds of snow, on the edge of which
numerous marmots were playing about. Soon
after leaving Omba we lost the prangos, but
on the descent we met with the rhubarb plant
just about to flower, and with a species of
garlic, and of chive, the latter with yellow
flowers, which are cropped by the marmot
and the sheep. The marmots we met with on
the ascent were sitting on their hinder legs
on stones near their burrows, and on our
approach made the rocks echo with their
loud and shrill cries. There was no getting
within gun-shot of them, as, approach in what
ever direction we might, and with whatever
precaution, we were sure to be detected by
one or other, who immediately shrieked an
alarm. I succeeded, however, in hitting one,
who, more curious than the rest, repeatedly
issued from his hole to look at us, and,
although he escaped for the time, we found
him next morning dead in his burrow.
At Twaje Chu, where we encamped, we

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH.. 35
found a small plain and some walled enclo
sures, intended as shelters for travellers. The
night was excessively cold, and in the morn
ing I found my tent stiff with frozen dew : a
sharp wind was blowing, and my people were
shivering in spite of sheep-skins and fires.
I expected to find the plants of the plain
nipped by the sudden and violent transition
from a scorching sun to a sharp frost, but I was
mistaken, for soon after the rays of the sun
had reached them the flowers were open, and
as fresh and blooming as if the night had
been temperate. On the sides of the moun
tains to the north-west of the pass, which
were moderately clothed with verdure, close
to the snow, were several droves of mares and
geldings at pasture ; they were in general
about fourteen hands high, active and strong,
in good condition and well-shaped, although
rather too long in the back. They belonged
to the carriers of Dras, carrying occasionally
loads and travellers to Kashmir and L6.
On the 2nd of July, a road of frequently
alternating descent and ascent led us over
the summit of a lofty mountain, from whence
we had a full view of the valley of Him-bab
d 2

36 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
(snow-source), or Dras, a long narrow dale,
stretching from north-west to east, with a
fillet of river running down its centre from
end to end, and fed by numerous rills rushing
from the rocks on either hand. It was
bounded to the west and south by lofty
ranges of mountains, forming the eastern
limits of Kashmir, and giving rise on one face
to the Behut or Jelum, and on the other to
the stream which was flowing beneath us.
The valley appeared fertile, though not to
the extent I had expected from accounts pre
viously received ; and, although there were
many cottages, they were scattered about in
an irregular and straggling manner, forming
no village of considerable size. The fields
were yellow with crops of wheat and barley,
and the slopes of the hills presented patches
of verdure. We descended the pass, and en
camped in a field of prangos and lucerne.
On the following morning I paid a visit to
the Nuna Khalun, who was encamped on the
opposite bank of the Om-chu, a rapid and
unfordable rivulet, flowing into the Dras
river, crossed by a sanga. The Khalun was
at breakfast with ten or twelve followers, and

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 37
we joined them in a repast of buttered tea.
Mr. Guthrie and myself had left the people
to follow with our tents and baggage, and a
message was brought to me that one of the
horses had stumbled in fording the Om-chu,
and that his load had been thrown into the
water. This proved most unfortunately to con
sist of my writing-box and bed ; the former
was broken, but recovered; all its contents,
including one of my journals, being wetted :
the bed, which was of brass, and so contrived
as to fold up in a conveniently small com
pass, was carried down by the stream, and
had disappeared. The Pushkyum Aba, who
had accompanied me to learn the operation
for cataract, threw himself into the stream to
save the horse, but was carried under the
water by the animal, and narrowly escaped
drowning. A Yarkandi following his ex
ample, succeeded in bringing the horse to the
bank, but the bed was not to be seen. It
was in vain that I set people to search for it,
as no traces of it were discovered; the ra
pidity of the current, and the diurnal increase
of its waters from the melting of the snows at
this season, rendering it dangerous to explore

38 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
its bed. The Khalun promised that it should
be carefully searched for whenever oppor
tunity permitted, but I had no expectation of
recovering it, and I never saw it again. The
accident was the more vexatious, as it pro
ceeded entirely from the carelessness of the
Hindustani Sais. If any European follow
my track, I should strongly recommend him
not to bring with him any Hindustani ser
vants. In the winter they are benumbed by
cold, and in summer careless and home-sick :
with exception of a Khansaman and a writer,
who may be natives of the plains, the ser
vants for a journey in central Asia should be
Persians, Tibetans, or Turanis. The first are
objectionable when amongst the Uzbeks, on
account of their Shiah faith, the second are
apt to indulge in inebriety, the last are un
questionably the most useful.
The valley of Dras is situated in the district
of the same name. If computed by the course
of the river from its junction with the Kartse
Chu to near its sources, it will be about fifteen
miles long; but the part to which the name of
Dras especially applies is a valley about two
miles in length : in either case the breadth is

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 39
rarely more than a mile. The small valley is
nearly closed at either extremity by the con
traction of the mountains, and is everywhere
much broken by projections from their base,
or by torrents rushing down their sides, and
crossing the slope to the river which runs along
it, dividing it into two unequal portions, the
northern being the most considerable. The
mountains which bound it are lofty ranges of
clay slate, backed by others of limestone of
greater height, and of very rugged outline
when the summit is not levelled by snow.
Upon the former, below the line of snow, a
thin vegetation of dwarf willow, stunted birch,
rhubarb, and other alpine plants, commences ;
and lower still is the region of the prangos,
and other hardy plants, including the great
yellow orchis, the roots of which furnish
salep. This the peasants collect and eat
roasted, but they have not learned to make
its nutritious infusion, nor do they cultivate
the plant.
The climate of Dras is, like that of Ladakh
in general, severely cold for half the year,
and during the other half varying from in
tense heat in the day to cold almost freezing

40 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
in the night. Several showers fell during the
month I remained in the valley, but at the
same time dense clouds to the westward,
and the information of travellers, established
the fall of heavy rain in Kashmir. The crops
cultivated are Sherokh barley, wheat, and
buck- wheat ; the first ripening in about three
months, the second in five or six, and the last
in six weeks or two months. The cattle are
horses, cows, the hybrid between the yak
and cow, and sheep and goats. The former,
though small, are hardy, active, and tolerably
well shaped : the price of a good five-year
old gelding is eight or nine pounds sterling.
The neat cattle are generally black, small,
short horned, and well shaped, with rather a
larger dewlap than is consistent with Eu
ropean notions of beauty. I could not ascer
tain the quantity of milk given by a cow, but
I understood it to be tolerably large : the
price of a cow in full milk after her second
calf was to me two pounds, but this was more
than the average price. The zho-mo, or
female progeny of the yak and cow, was
more valued for the dairy than the latter, and
sold for a larger sum. In general the cattle

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 41
of this district were in much better condition
than in any other part of Ladakh, owing to
the abundant supply of prangos in summer,
and its hay in winter, for their provender.
The population of Dras is small, and in
poverty, being much exposed to predatory
incursions from Little Tibet, the government
taking no means for their protection, and the
natural defences, which would seem, to an
ordinary observer, to be impenetrable, being
traversed with ease in winter, over the frozen*
snow, by the borderers of Tibet and Kash
mir. The lands of Dras are the joint pro
perty of the Raja of Ladakh and the Malik,
or chief landholder, of the neighbouring part
of Kashmir, in consequence of a grant, in
perpetuity, made by an ancestor of the Raja
to a progenitor of the Malik *. The occupant
of a house pays a rupee a-year and a small
quantity of grain to each of these chiefs.
This would be no great tax upon industry if
it were the whole, but the people are sub
jected to various arbitrary exactions on the
* Baron Hiigel says, the Maliks were officers in hereditary
charge of the passes into Kashmir, appointed by Akber, who gave
them villages to be held by this tenure. J. R. Geog. Soc, vol. vi.
p. 346.— Ed.

42 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
part of the local authorities. The Nuna
Khalun was at Dras when I arrived for the
purpose of raising contributions towards the
expense of building a fort, and, whilst in the
district, had exacted fifty sheep, besides a
large quantity of butter, milk, and firewood,
for the use of himself and attendants. The
visits of the Malik are equally costly, and
the people are further liable to be pressed as
porters and labourers for either landlord, not
only for their personal service, but that of all
travellers and merchants, for the pecuniary
profit of the superior. In a year of brisk
traffic this has been known to amount to
about fifteen thousand pounds, of which the
Chamal, or head farmer, and the Karpun,
or local governor, manage to pocket about
one-third, transmitting the remainder, in
equal portions, to the Raja and the Malik;
the poor peasants receiving no compensa
tion whatever for their labour, loss of time-,
and injury to their own lands. This system
of oppression has not only impoverished the
people ; it has demoralized them, and they
are the most dishonest race in Ladakh.
They dared not plunder openly, but they lost

CH. VIII.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 43
no opportunity of pilfering, and were most
exorbitant in their charges, whilst professing
extreme anxiety to serve me. I could not
obtain a single fagot, nor half a pint of
milk, for less than a piece of silver, in value
seven pence. The disposition to purloin was
incessantly manifested. A ewe, presented to
me over night, was carried off before the
morning. Whilst operating on a patient for
cataract, my case of pocket instruments,
which lay open beside me, was nearly emp
tied of its contents. A tent, which had got
wetted, being hung out to dry, was shorn of
one-fifth of its canvas. In short, we were
obliged to be continually on the alert to pre
serve any part of our property that was pro
fitable. This is not the character of the
Tibetans in general, especially of those who
follow the faith of Buddha. The people of
Dras are Mohammedans, and my intercourse
with the Shiah Mohammedans has found the
upper classes intolerant, and the lower disso
lute and unprincipled. The people of the
western provinces, in particular, and of La
dakh generally, have suffered much moral
detriment from association with the Kash-

44 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
mirians, the most profligate race, perhaps,
in the world. The inhabitants of Dras are
rather under the middle stature, though taller
than those of the eastern districts, and have
coarse and unattractive features. Their
houses are built of pebbles, cemented with
earth, and with terraced roofs, and are most
inartificial fabrics. As usual they are built
without chimneys, and the smoke with which
they are commonly filled accounts for the
frequency of complaints of the eyes. In the
course of two months I operated on fifty ca
taracts, and the patients who applied for re
lief in inflammatory affections of those organs
were exceedingly numerous.
The most valuable produce of the valley of
Dras is the prangos, which grows in great
luxuriance upon the slopes of the hills, and
supplies an invaluable fodder, both in sum
mer and winter, for the cattle. The inspec
tion of it in its native seats was my chief in
ducement for the visit, and I had an oppor
tunity of observing it in full flower. The
result of my inquiries is recorded in another
place: as soon as they were completed I
quitted Dras, and returned to Le.

ch. ix.] 45

CHAPTER IX.
Excursion of Mr. Trebeck to Piti — Tung-lung Pass — Plain of Rup-
shu — Religious Structures — Tents of Shepherds — Whirlwinds
— Lake of Thog-ji Chenmo — Pass of Nak-po-gonding — Tsume-
reri Lake — Parang La Rivulet and Pass — a Horse lost —
Country improved — River of Losar — Report of an English Tra
veller — Halt at Rerik — Captain Mercer on his way to Sujanpur
— Valley of the Losar, or Piti River — Fort of Trankar — Frontier
of Bisahar — Figure of Sakya — Radokh Goat — Orders for a Levy
of the People — Cause of Dispute with Kulu — Subterraneous
Watercourses — Description of Piti — Village — Population —
Village Councils — Revenue — Trade — Harvest Festivities —
Return — Storm at the Parang Pass — Kiangs.
MR. TREBECK'S EXCURSION TO PITI.
Leaving Le on the 8th of June, I proceeded
by our former route ¦ through Stakna, Mar-
silla, and Giah, to the site of our encampment
on the 15th of September, on the southern
side of the Tung-lung pass. The chief dif
ference observable was in the state of the
rivers, which were now swollen by the melt
ing of the snow. The Sinh-kha-bad was
thrice its size, and petty rills, which were

46 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
scarcely noticed when we last traversed
them, had grown to respectable and almost
unfordable streams. Although, however, the
heat of the sun during the day was intense,
the nights were cold, and we descended the
pass in a shower of snow.
On the 12th of June we proceeded along
the valley or plain of Rupshu in a south
easterly direction. The valley varied in
breadth, and occasionally expanded into a
broad plain, but, in general, it was not more
than from five hundred to seven hundred
paces in breadth. The hills on either side
were covered with the winter's snow, and we
had occasional falls of hail and snow in the
plain. The soil of the latter was at first
loose clay, and afterwards consisted chiefly
of micaceous sand, scattered over with stones,
and thinly patched with stunted furze : seve
ral rivulets crossed it, and in their beds
and on their banks a small quantity of grass
was growing, which affords pasturage in
winter to the flocks of the shepherds of the
more exposed districts. Along the plain
were a number of the structures called
" Manis," the precise purpose of which we

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 47
were never able to ascertain. The most
common are of the form of a parallelopiped,
and roughly built of stones, the upper ones
bearing inscriptions, chiefly of the sacred
sentence, " Om mani padma horn." An
other kind, often erected at the ends of the
first, though not unfrequently detached, is
built in the form of a cube, surmounted by a
truncated pyramid, supporting the lower part
of a cone reversed. Above all is placed a
stick or pole, but the better kinds are orna
mented by a pinnacle of well -burnt red
brick, terminated by a crown or crescent of
brass, or painted wood. Near the end of our
day's journey we passed, at some distance,
the large pond or lake of Thog-ji Chenmo.
Near our encampment a Champa, or shep
herd and his family, had encamped, and
several other tents were near. One party
had arrived from Kag-jung, only a few hours
before us. They reported the destruction of
a large number of cattle, in consequence of
the severity of the winter and difficulty of
procuring provender. The tents of the
Champas are of ragged black blanket, about
four feet high, and open along the top. Their

48 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
interior is furnished usually with abundance
of dirty sheep and goat skins, some sewed
into coats, two or three iron pots, and one or
two of brass or copper, some iron spoons, a
churn for tea, not for butter, which is made
by rolling or shaking milk in a leather bag,
and some wooden milk-pails, which are sel
dom, if ever, washed. The rest of the shep
herd's equipment is carried about his person,
as his tea cup, pipe, tobacco pouch, chak-
mak, or flint, and tinder, knives, a small
spoon, and several needles ; a small wooden
flageolet is also sometimes stuck in the
girdle. These articles, with their cattle,
constitute the property, and are sufficient
for the comfort, of a Ladakh shepherd and
his family. The head ornaments of the wo
men are of the fashion of Chan-than, not of
Le, the lappet being widest on the forehead,
and falling in a narrow slip down the back.
It is similarly decorated with turquoises and
cornelians. The costume of the men is the
same, except in the cap, which, by the shep
herds of Gardokh and Rodokh, is worn of a
yellow cloth, with a border of gimp or fox
skin, and a top -knot of scarlet twist or

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 49
shreds of red silk. Amongst these people
when an individual of property dies the body
is burnt, as usual, but that of a poor person
is left on the spot where he expired, the face
only being covered. The party near us had
with them about twenty yaks, nearly all of
them black, and of form and size very supe
rior to those of Chushul.
I had never seen the phenomenon of the
whirlwind more common than on this plain :
it was, perhaps, like that of the Arabian desert
on a smaller scale, raising a column of sand
suddenly to a great height at one particular
spot, whilst all around the air was perfectly
calm. In general these sudden gusts are
not at all dangerous, but strange stories are
told of their occasional violence in particular
spots, and they are said to be sufficiently
strong at Digar to carry horse and man off
their feet, being accompanied by reports like
those of artillery. I can confirm the truth of
these last stories to a less exaggerated ex
tent, having heard on the Digar pass the
wind howling through the crags at a very
considerable distance with a noise occasion
ally like that of a falling stone. Very pos-
VOL. II. E

50 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
sibly an exposed portion of rock had been
blown down.
The greater part of the road of the 13th
skirted the edge of the lake. The number
of wild geese was prodigious. On a bank
within it, about two hundred yards long, and
twenty broad, there were at least three hun
dred ; several chakwas, or Brahmani geese,
were observed amongst them. After leaving
the lake we ascended a narrow defile to a
Latoh, where we halted. In the morning we
encountered a bleak wind and snow ; in the
afternoon the thermometer rose to 89", and
the sun was very hot: at night again there
was frost. In this neighbourhood are some
sulphur mines, which are worked : the sul
phur is cleaned by pounding, and then melting
with a small quantity of suet over a slow fire.
The journey of the 14th led us over various
ascents and descents of the usual barren and
desolate character, unfitted, apparently, alike
for vegetable and animal life. The principal
pass traversed was that of Nakpo Gonding,
which had an elevation of above seventeen
thousand feet, and in surmounting which the
whole party suffered much inconvenience

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 51
from difficulty of breathing. This sensation,
in mountainous countries, is not, perhaps, ex
actly what is understood by similar difficulty
in the plains, it may be best defined a fre
quent inclination, and, at the same time, a
sense of inability, to sigh. The descent was
comparatively easy, and led to the district of
Chakshang. Early on the following day we
arrived at the most northern point of the
Tsumureri Lake, and continued, during that
and the ensuing day, along its western bank.
Steep mountains rise abruptly from the lake
on either side of it. Those on the opposite
side were about two thousand feet high, but
those on our right were not so lofty. The
general breadth of the lake may have been
about a mile and a half, including the broken
ground on its edges formed by ravines and
watercourses, and it appeared to be deeper
and less clear than the Lake of Pang-kung.
It contained no fish, and was not much fre
quented by wild- fowl : the taste of the water
was brackish*. A river of some size, formed
of a number of watercourses and streams,
* Mr. Gerard afterwards visited this lake which he calls Chui-
nonenil : he places it at an elevation above the sea of fifteen thou-
E 2

52 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
which crossed the road, and turned the angle
of the lake, flowed into it on the opposite side.
In the middle of May the lake was frozen
over sufficiently to be crossed by a man.
On the 17th we crossed a platform, chiefly
of gravelly soil, in some places swampy, and
intersected by the Parang La river, which we
forded, and afterwards ascended through a
long, narrow defile, between steep rocks,
which sometimes approached so close as to
leave no path except the river itself. The
day's journey terminated on a small platform
termed Pha-lung Palrak, or " stones where
wool is clipped." The people of Piti and
Rupshu annually meet here to barter, the
former grain and provisions for the wool of
the latter, and they find shelter in the lee of
huge blocks of chert which are lying about.
Appearances here announced a more difficult
road than we had for some time traversed,
the rocks being rugged and precipitous,
dreary, and topped with snow. Near the
summit of one in our vicinity there was an
sand feet, and observes, that whilst it is fed by several considerable
streams it has no efflux, and is kept at its level entirely by evapo
ration. — Asiat. Res., vol. xviii. p. 259. — Ed.

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 53
accumulated mass of snow, at least fifty feet
deep. The same defile continued more or less
filled by the river, to which frequent supplies
were brought by rivulets and rills from the
rocks on either hand, originating in the snow-
beds with which every nook and recess was
filled. In one part of the defile a mass of
snow formed a complete bridge across the
stream. Loose fragments of rock, piles of
gravel, and mouldering clay and sand, were
the principal substitutes for a path in the
river's bed. At Nishing-long the defile opened
into a valley, which was crossed, and another
defile, that of Tratang Kongma, entered. The
rocks that bounded it consisted of a flinty
stone, of a dark grey colour, intricately veined
with white quartz. Their surface was bleached
to the straw-colour of limestone, and they rose
in sharp craggy peaks ; one opposite to where
we encamped, shot up in the form of a cone,
to the height of one thousand five hundred
feet, with sides too precipitous to be scaled.
Here the gigantic chakor, called, in Piti,
Komo, was numerous.
On the 19th of June we crossed the pass of
Parang La. The ascent, though not of the

54 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
most abrupt description, occupied us from
day -break till noon. In the lower part the
snow lay in lines, with edges sufficiently
frozen to bear our weight, and we stepped
along as if we had been walking upon boards
placed on their edges. Higher up it was soft
ened by the sun, and we had the agreeable
variety of sinking into it knee-deep. My
horse was so utterly incapable of proceeding,
long before reaching the summit, that it was
necessary to dismount and leave him to his
fate. I should have put an end to his suffer
ings, but was persuaded that some men might
be sent back for him with food from Kiwar,
though I had little expectation of this being
effected in time. The height of the pass
above the sea was not less than nineteen
thousand feet*. To the south and south-west
a confused succession of snowy peaks pre
sented itself, none of which were much
higher than the Parang La, though some
loftier peaks appeared to the south-west.
The Bara Lacha pass was pointed out to
the south-west. The crest of the Parang
La, and the descent on the southern face,
* This pass was also crossed by Mr. Gerard,' who states it to
have an elevation of more than eighteen thousand feet, — Ed.

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 55
were free from snow. The mountain on each
side of the pass was not more than one hun
dred and fifty feet above us ; the descent was
very steep. The pass was, upon the whole, one
of the most difficult we had encountered : we
encamped in a gorge not exceeding twenty-
five paces in breadth.
The road on the 20th commenced in the
defile through which, as usual, flowed a rivu
let intersecting the path, but we crossed upon
natural bridges of snow. This opened into a
valley where the villages of Kikiem and
Kiwar and their cultivated lands were met
with. Short grass and furze covered the less
abrupt slopes of the mountains, and a few
stunted willows adorned the edges of the
rivulets. Although much less fertile than
Lahoul, the country surpassed that to the
north of the Parang La.
On the 21st it continued to improve, and
we again saw our old acquaintances — sweet-
briar, wild roses, and currant-bushes in abun
dance. A platform, extending from the foot
of the mountain we had crossed, was skirted
by the river of Losar. This is formed by two
rivulets, one coming from this side of the Bara
Lacha pass, said to be not more than one

56 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
day's journey from Kikiem, and the other
from the Kulzum La, on the way to Kulu,
There are roads to these places along the
streams. Across the Losar are several vil
lages, at one of which, Rerik, we encamped.
At Kiwar a report had reached us that an
English gentleman, attended by four men,
was on his way to Bara Lacha and Kulu, and
this was confirmed at Rerik, which place
the person in question had quitted only the
day before. As there could be no doubt of
the fact, therefore, I dispatched two men on
horseback with a note to him, to ascertain
who he was, and offer him assistance should
he need it. I waited at Rerik the return of
my messengers, and, on the 23rd, they brought
me a reply. The gentleman was a Captain
Mercer, on his way to Sultanpur. As he was
pressed for time, he regretted he could not
return to meet me. He was accompanied by
four men, and his baggage was carried by
them and two loaded asses, with which alone
he would find it a serious task to cross the
Kulzum La. I regretted not having been a
day earlier, that I might have seen him and
given him some information that might have
been of service. It was now too late, and I

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 57
could only wish him the success which his
enterprising spirit deserved. From Rerik I
sent letters to Lieut. Gerard, at Kothgerh, to
inform him of my approach to the frontier of
Bisahar. We left Rerik on the 24th, and proceeded
along the platform, the average breadth of
which, above the river, was seven hundred
paces. The soil was clayey, and the greater
portion of its surface cultivated. The river
was joined, in the valley, by a number of
small rivulets, deep though fordable. A
sanga was thrown across the main stream,
which rolled in a bed of gravel, and was
fringed with willows, and some varieties of
thorn. At some distance we passed through
the village of Kaj, the cultivated lands of
which were on the right ; on the platform, to
the left, at some distance ahead, were two
temples, Tangiut and Gingul, with villages
and lands attached. The level surface of
the valley was here about five hundred yards
broad, and branches of the river were running
in every part of it. The day's journey termi
nated at the small village of Lara, where the
breadth of the valley was about nine hundred

58 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
paces. The rocks on the left appeared to
support a table-land ; those on the right were
connected with snowy ridges. The road on
the 25th continued of much the same cha
racter along the Losar, which was joined by
the Pin, a river of equal size, coming from
the south-west. Towards its termination the
road ascended the side of a steep and crumb
ling mountain to the fortress of Dankar, or,
as more correctly called by the Tibetans,
Trankar. This is built upon an irregular
ridge of rock, running out to the south of the
general line of the mountain. It presents a
precipitous face to the river, and on the west,
also, is almost inaccessible. The path to it,
scarcely more than a foot broad, might easily
be rendered impassable, by a few stones being
rolled down. On the south-east the path is
exposed, but, eight hundred feet above it, the
mountains slope so gently that they afford
pasture-lands to the cattle of the village. A
pond is situated on this part of the rock, from
the bottom of which two rills percolate the
soil, and furnish water for irrigation. The
hither one also supplies the fort with water,
though inconveniently, as it lies far below.

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 59
A rough stair of bricks leads to it, defended
at the bottom by a sort of bastion. The fort
itself is of an irregular narrow figure, and does
not differ essentially in shape or strength
from a common house ; some of the defences
are whimsically placed, particularly a small
enclosure with loop-holes, large enough to
contain ten or twelve men, which is perched
on the top of an isolated pile of gravel, rising
like a column from the rill at the base. The
rest of the houses are built on the lower por
tion of the eminence, and are constructed as
usual of stone and large unburnt bricks. On
the opposite side of the river, distant about
three miles, was the village of Mane, and the
crest of the pass, leading to Rubak in Bisa
char, was not more than six miles horizontally
distant, in the direction of south-east. The
upper part of the defile leading to it had a
considerable quantity of snow in it, but it did
not appear more difficult than that of Pa
rang. As a principal object of my visit to Trankar
was to communicate more readily with Lieut.
Gerard, at Subathu, and to facilitate, if he
continued to desire it, his journey to Le, I

60 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
established myself in a house in the village
to await replies to my letters. The house be
longed to the Taoche, or head of the carriers,
and he with Khaga Khan, the manager of the
district, and the Pa-on or scribe, paid me
every civility in the absence of the chief of
Piti, Sultan Begh, whom I had left at Le.
The Pa-on, in addition to his literary attain
ments, proved to be a skilful carver and gilder,
and had executed in wood-work a represen
tation of Sakya Muni, which with reference
to the state of the arts in this country, and
the coarseness and imperfectness of the tools,
was an extraordinary performance. Sakya
was represented seated cross-legged, as usual,
upon a lotus, resting on a platform, supported
by two white lions with bushy tails, like those
of the yak. The body of Sakya was gilt, and
the drapery about his person painted red:
he was surrounded by foliage, amidst which
were the figures of a white elephant, a lion, a
horse and horseman, two parrots, one over
each shoulder, and above them two heads of
cherubs, surmounted by three-headed snakes.
The whole was topped by a winged and
horned nondescript figure, having the head

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 61
of an eagle, the body of a man, and the tail
of a fish. The whole was grotesque enough,
and not a little out of proportion, yet the
effect was striking, and the workmanship
curious and elaborate.
During my residence the chief Lama of
the district departed on a trading trip to
Tashi-gong; he was accompanied out of the
village by forty Gelums, who walked after
him in procession, and a few women with
pots of butter milk. At the foot of the de
scent the party sat down and partook of the
provisions they had with them, after which
the Lama made them a speech, and gave
them his blessing, holding out his hands over
them, and putting them on the heads of those
who were near him, in a truly patriarchal
fashion. On the 13th of August two Shikaris brought
me a young goat, of the variety called Ra-
dokh : it appeared to be about two years
old. The hair was of a light grey colour,
slightly tinged with yellow. It was four feet
two inches in length, from the tip of the nose
to the end of the tail, and two feet five inches
high at the shoulder. The huntsmen say

62 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
it seldom grows above five inches taller. If
so, it must be a different variety from the
wild goat in the neighbourhood of Le, as that
is considerably larger ; but there are a num
ber of species, no doubt, in these mountains,
of a character between the goat and the deer,
which are new to naturalists.
On the 15th orders were received from Le,
stating, that it was the purpose ofthe Khalun
to levy an armed force for the purpose of re
taliating upon Kulu, for the foray lately com
mitted by that state on Ladakh, and ordering
the people of Piti to prepare to meet him
near Koksar, on the north side of the Ra-
tanka pass. He threatens death to any who
shall run away, should any fresh attack be
attempted before his arrival ; but this is only
intended to give confidence to the people, for
he knows very well, should they ever be per
suaded to take the field, the first shot from a
Kulu matchlock would put the whole La-
dakhi force to flight. They do, however,
sometimes grow pugnacious, and Khaga Khan
was actually busied in adjusting a dispute be
tween the two villages of Kiwar and Kikiem,
in which an affray had taken place, and a few

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 63
heads had been broken. The circumstances
of the dispute with Kulu were the following.
About six years ago, when Khaga Rabghi
was the governor of the district, attempts
were made by the Gadhes, or shepherds of
Chamba, Kulu, and its neighbourhood, to
export shawl-wool to the southern hills, by
way of the Parang pass. As this was a con
traband trade, an order was received from Le
to have it seized, and in obedience six or
eight flocks, amounting, perhaps, in the whole
to fifteen hundred sheep, partly laden with
coarse wool, were stopped and possession was
taken of the whole of the forbidden article,
but nothing more : none of the animals were
injured, nor was any violence offered to the
shepherds. This deterred the traders from
speculating again in the same way, and the
authorities of Ladakh had no application
made to them by the Raja of Kulu for the
restitution of the property confiscated. In
deed, the occurrence seems to have remained
unnoticed for more than four years, as both
the Rajas were on friendly terms, and an
agent from Kulu was residing at Le when
we arrived at that city. But somewhat

64 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
more than a year since, a large armed body
of the Kulu peasantry, headed by a near
connexion of Sobha Ram, entered Piti by
the Losar pass, and meeting with no resist
ance, took possession of everything which
was worth carrying away, and had not been
concealed. They advanced no further than
Rerik, and destroyed several houses by light
ing large fires in the rooms. The Gonpa of
Kih was much injured. The property taken
off consisted chiefly of yaks, horses, and
other live stock, but an estimate cannot be
made of the amount of the loss. The con
duct of the invaded was amusingly charac
teristic. Every family subject to taxes pos
sesses a matchlock, a sword, and a bow and
arrows ; but instead of employing these in
defence as would have been supposed, no
sooner was information of the attack given,
than most of them were buried in the nearest
piece of land convenient for the purpose, and
the owners fled precipitately to the least ac
cessible part of the hills, dragging after them
as much of their household furniture as pos
sible. The Kaj sanga, and that across the
Gingul river were broken down, and the

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 65
flight was general, even at Dankar. Khaga
Khan shut himself up in the fort, and the
Pa-on, after having in vain requested him to
make an offer of a present of grain to such of
the villagers as were willing to resist the
enemy, saddled his tattoo, took refuge
amongst the crags above, and remained three
days concealed there. At the end of this
period several of the people assembled, a
drum was beat, a few matchlocks were dis
charged, and a report was spread that a force
had arrived from Le by the Burgiok road to
their assistance. This had the desired effect,
and the foragers immediately retreated. The
list of killed on both sides might amount to
about sixteen, but these fell in a very unusual
way ; six or seven of the attacked lost their
lives by slipping from the cliffs, over which
they were trying to escape, and the deaths of
the remainder (of the offensive party) were
caused by overcharged stomachs, with the
exception of one only, who was drowned in
the river. Sobha Ram's accusation is little
likely to be true, not merely because the dis
position of the people is at variance with the
commission of an act, such as the one as-
VOL. II. f

66 , RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
cribed to them, but because three or four of
the Kulu men, who were afterwards taken
prisoners, were permitted to escape without
injury, even when the irritation excited by
the inroad was at its height. The quarrel
was, however, ultimately adjusted, without a
farther recourse to arms.
I have noticed above the two subterraneous
watercourses from the pond on the moun
tains. On the afternoon of the 15th the one
that supplied the village was choked: after
some interval its liberation was announced
by a loud rattling noise, and presently an
immense mass of mud, earth, and stones,
came rushing through the gutter in such
quantities, that the villagers were alarmed
for their crops, and sought to arrest the fall,
or turn it aside. Fortunately it ceased after
a short time, but the effect was extraordinary,
especially compared with the apparent insig
nificance of the rill. The stream seemed
scarcely adequate to stir a stone of half a
pound weight, but the slime brought down
extended for several yards of the depth of
three and four feet, and imbedded blocks of
stone that could not have weighed less than

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 67
a ton. The most liquid portion of the mass
had been in the centre, and had run off, leav
ing a large drain between heaps of rubbish
on either side. I had often before noticed
similar accumulations rising in ridges along
the slopes of the hills, and had been at a loss
to account for their origin.
The Lassan government, at least that of
Chan-than, claims a jurisdiction over the
south-eastern part of Piti, and a Lama, on
the part of that province, resides at Kih
Gonpa, a day's journey from Trankar. The
larger part of the district is, however, subject
to Ladakh, and perhaps its political author
ity is extended to the whole, the charge of
the Lama being religious rather than secular.
It is said to have been formerly included in
Bisahar, subsequent to the Lassan conquest
of Chan-than, since when Lassa has subju
gated no part of Ladakh. The district con
tains a number of small villages, or thirty in
Piti so called, and thirteen in the adjacent
district of Pin, averaging rather less than ten
houses in each. The male population was
stated to be one thousand and seventy-eight,
including children ; and if the same propor-
f 2

68 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
tion prevailed as at Trankar, where it was
to a house, men, one-seventh, women, one-
ninth, and children, one-third, or nearly five
altogether, the total population of the district
would be about two thousand.
The people of Piti are completely of Tartar
appearance in form and face ; the men are
less robust and better grown than those more
to the north, and the women are far from
good looking. The men are much less in
dustrious also than those about Le, and are
of a worse character, being quarrelsome, dis
honest, and still more addicted to chang,
being rarely quite sober. Their dress con
sists of the usual black woollen cap, with a
long coat and trowsers of the same material,
and the common boots. The Lamas of Pin
differ from their brethren, in allowing their
hair to grow and to become matted, and in
wearing black. The female tunic is also
chiefly of that colour, but the trowsers are
red. The hair is nicely platted into a num
ber of small braids which hang down the
back, and are collected into a point, which is
decorated with pieces of amber and coral.
The mantle which is used in winter is plain,

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 69
and either of sheep-skin or of coarse home-
manufactured cloth.
The authority of the Raja of Ladakh, or
rather that of the Khalun, is absolute, and is
exercised through a chief, who seldom visits
Piti, except at harvest time, to collect the
revenue. This office is therefore discharged
by a deputy, who is rarely a person of much
influence, and whose measures are completely
controlled by the Gatpos, corresponding with
the Sianas of Gerhwal, and Mukhyas of Bi-
sahar; householders acting for a month in
turn as elders of the villages. These should
meet five or six times a year to discuss the
interests of the district ; but unless some mat
ter which they consider important is under
agitation, those most distant from the place
of rendezvous rarely attend : when they meet,
these delegates of the Piti commons display
more vehemence than wisdom : they seldom
proceed to business before their faculties are
whetted by copious draughts of chang, and
the cup circulates freely during the debate.
They sit down on the ground without any
order, and one man may be seen resolving
some grave question whilst he twirls a roll of

70 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
yarn, and another contemplating views of
policy through a mist of tobacco smoke. An
orator rarely makes much progress in a
lengthy harangue, and the lungs of the whole
assembly are generally in full play through
out the discussion, each being more anxious
to be heard than to hear. If a dispute arises
between individuals, the parliament of Gatpos
must settle it ; if a robbery is committed, they
must inquire into it ; and if the thief be dis
covered, award his punishment. The con
sequence is that thefts are constantly perpe
trated with impunity. A knotty question
with them was the provision of porters for
my baggage, as how could they spare me half
a dozen men, when they were all under mili
tary requisition for the warlike purposes of
the Khalun. The conclusion they came to
was, that the men could not be supplied, but
that I might hire or buy ponies, or asses ; or
if I preferred it, I might have the women,
as many as I pleased.
The whole revenue of Piti is collected in
grain, by a measure called a khal, equal to
eight pakka sers, and ofthe value of thirteen
anas. The highest tax paid by any one is

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 71
fifteen khals, and the lowest seven ; but as
one-third of the population must be deducted
as untaxable, having no landed property, the
revenue is levied upon but two hundred and
sixty-seven houses, and the average amount
paid by each being estimated at eleven khals,
the total will be two thousand nine hundred
and thirty-seven khals, or in value two
thousand three hundred and eighty-six rupees.
Traffic is also carried on chiefly by barter,
and money is almost useless. Salt, wool, tea,
turquoises, sheep, and goats, are imported
from Chan-than, and are paid for with grain,
woollen cloth, and a few horses. From Bisa-
har and Kulu come iron, cooking utensils,
brass, copper, tobacco, rice, dried fruits, tea
cups, timber, amber, and glass beads, &c,
which are paid for with the grain, and horses,
and woollen cloths of the district, and with
the salt and wool of Chan-than, although the
latter is an illicit export. The iron and metal
vessels of the south are sent tp Le in ex
change for tea, coarse cloth, coral, and dye
ing drugs, &c. A lead mine exists at Po, but
it is worked only on account of the Raja.
The district is famous for its manufacture of

72 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
woollen cloth: several varieties are fabri
cated, some thick and heavy, with a long
nap, others fine. All the wool made use of
is of a coarse kind, and in consequence the
finer cloths have a hardness, something simi
lar to that of camelot or plaid, to which they
are little inferior. They are much superior
in strength to those of Le, but are less soft
and pliant : this is owing to the different
methods which obtain in the construction.
To the northward a coarse loom is in use,
little unlike in its parts to the one common in
Europe. Here the two ends of the warp are
fastened together, and it is then stretched
upon two rods, one fixed to the body of the
weaver (who is invariably a woman) by a
cord, which admits of the work being loosened
or tightened at pleasure, and the other well
fastened to some stones at a distance, equal
to half the length of the cloth. The whole is
close to the ground, on which the workwoman
sits, but the portion close to her is slightly
elevated by a third rod. Loops, each includ
ing a thread, and received upon a small stick
like a rattan, supply the place of a heddle :
of these there are three sets, which draw up

'CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 73
parts of the warp alternately as required.
A large heavy mesh, into which a thin bar of
iron is inserted, is a substitute for the reed,
and three or more heavy strokes are made
with its armed edge upon every thread of the
woof. The last instrument must be taken
out after the insertion of each piece of yarn,
and when placed perpendicularly, with its
two edges separating the warp, abundance of
room is given for the passage of the balls of
worsted made use of, without the covering of
a shuttle. This part of the process is tedious,
but the warp is prepared in a quick and
simple way : several pegs are driven into the
ground so near each other, that the whole
may be reached without any material move
ment of the body : the yarn is fastened to one
of them, and carried on round the others till
a sufficient quantity has been wound : all are
then taken out except three, which have their
places supplied by rods, and the warp only
requires spreading. Every woman knows
how to weave, but only half their number
may be considered as employed in the manu
facture ; for if a house contains two, one is
usually busy in the management of domestic

74 - RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
affairs. It may be estimated that two thou
sand seven hundred and fifty-two pieces of
cloth are annually fabricated in the district.
Each piece is about seventeen inches broad,
and the average length may be stated at
seven and a half yards ; so that the whole
will amount to twenty thousand six hundred
and forty yards, of which the annual con
sumption in Piti may be about one thousand
six hundred pieces, and the remainder is ex
ported, to the extent of as much as thirteen
thousand one hundred and forty yards. Very
good sacking is also made of the hair and
wool taken from the yak.
The same grains grow here as are common
in the northern parts of Ladakh, but it would
seem that the sherokh in no part of the dis
trict changes to the common barley in a
higher temperature. The buck-wheat is like
wise produced, but the climate does not admit
of its being successfully sown after another
crop, as customary in Purik.
The cattle are also generally the same.
The sheep are almost all imported from Chan-
than, as well as the goats, the kids of which
degenerate, both in size and quantity of wool.

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 75
The horses, or rather ponies, are extremely
small ; they seldom exceed in height twelve
hands, and for the most part their forms are
imperfect, though usually they are active and
hardy. On the 15th of August the approach of
harvest was celebrated by a public festival,
and at the invitation of Khaga Khan I joined
the party at his residence early in the fore
noon. I found his room crowded by the men
of the village, and the whole party was en
gaged in emptying some large earthen ves
sels of chang, the contents of which dimi
nished as briskly as might well be imagined.
There was also abundance of smoking, abund
ance of noise, and better than all, abundance
of good humour. I had not been long seated
before three of the company rose to dance, to
a tune played by the blacksmith, who had ex
changed his anvil for a couple of drums. The
performance precisely resembled what we
often witnessed at Le: the motion of the
feet was extremely slow and spiritless, but
was accompanied by various movements of
the hands and arms, and the waving of a
woollen cloth in the form of a shawl, which

76 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
latter is always used for the purpose by the
more wealthy people to the north. At twelve
o'clock the liquor was well-nigh exhausted,
and every one went home to saddle his horse,
and put on his smartest dress. After this
had been done, the whole again assembled in
the hollow below the village, where a piece of
ground about one hundred yards long had
been smoothed for the occasion. On one side
of this a small mark was set up, and every
one galloped his pony past it, in general
throwing at it with a stone, though one of the
riders made use of a bow and arrow, and two
others had their matchlocks. The last were
admirable caricatures : both rode about as
fast as an active person might hop, and fired
with the muzzle of their guns within a few
inches of the mark, which it is but justice to
observe they always hit. Amusement was
now suspended till near four in the afternoon,
when every inhabitant of the village, both
male and female, met in a yard close to the
fort. A second and larger batch of chang
was in readiness, and the dancing was in
cessant, and much more varied and enter
taining than any I had seen at Le. The

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 77
most pleasing part of it was performed by the
women, who joined hands, and moved in a
circle, with a regular step and much vivacity,
singing at the same time. A pas-seul of an
old shepherd was also amusing, as it had
more of humour than vulgarity, and would
have done credit to a clown on an English
stage. Notwithstanding the rain which was
falling the greatest part of the evening, the
general mirth continued till dark unabated.
On the following day eating superseded other
occupations; though, quite contrary to Eu
ropean custom, the men regaled in one house,
and their companions of the other sex in
another. The former killed two sheep, the
whole of which they devoured ; but the latter
seem to have fared much worse, and to have
had little more to feast upon than parched
barley, flour, and butter, perhaps with the
addition of a small quantity of tea. Forming
an opinion from the apparent pleasure with
which they partook of this, their ordinary
food must be of a greatly inferior quality.
After exchanging several communications
with Lieut. Gerard at Kotgerh, the delivery
of which was much interrupted and delayed

78 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
by the carelessness and irregularity of our
messengers, I learned from him that he was
unable to obtain leave of absence, and was
therefore unable to join us in Ladakh. As
some articles of value, including a packet
of pearls, were on their way from Calcutta, I
dispatched a confidential servant, Gholam
Hyder, to Subathu, to wait for them, and
bring them after me, and set off to return to
Le on the 22nd of August. On our way to
Kaj we met with a large party of Pin people
proceeding towards Lara, on the road to
Chan-than, and forming the third kafila that
had gone thither within a few days, for tea,
wool, salt, &c.
The ascent to Kiwar was a work of labour,
and we were obliged to procure the aid of the
villagers to relieve the asses of their burthens.
The situation of this village is perhaps the
loftiest in Ladakh at which crops of corn are
raised ; the elevation is at least thirteen thou
sand feet, and the snowy peaks are not much
above it. There is abundance of pasture on
the swells of land to the north-east and east,
and the stock of neat cattle belonging to the
village is unusually large. At Kiwar I first

CH. IX.] RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 79
learned that dahi, or curdled milk, is churned
into butter, and found a pail employed as a
churn, the churning-stick being supported by
two arms fastened to a post, and turned by a
rope as in Hindustan. The natives affirm
that butter made from milk in the first in
stance disagrees with them.
On the night of the 27th, on our approach
to the Parang pass, we were visited by a vio
lent storm of sleet and rain, from which we
were imperfectly sheltered, and during which
we were kept in a state of perpetual alarm by
the constant falling of small fragments of
rock swept down by the torrents; luckily
none of them came near us, or, although they
were not of great extent, they must have done
mischief. The weather continued unsettled
on the following day, but we succeeded in
making our way to the top ofthe pass. There
we were stopped. The snow rose like a wall
on its northern face, and was found much too
soft to bear loaded cattle. We were therefore
obliged to stay for the night where we were,
taking shelter in a latoh, or enclosure for tra
vellers. Appearances on the following morning were

80 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
not more favourable, but it was necessary to
move onwards, and we attempted to descend.
The loads, however, were soon thrown off, for
the asses were frequently so deep in the snow,
even without their burthens, that they could
not extricate themselves without assistance.
It was past noon before we had reached a
platform, beyond which the pass was clear ;
and here we were obliged to remain until the
baggage could be brought down, and this was
not accomplished till the next day. As my
tent was amongst the things left for the night,
I was obliged to construct a shelter by piling
some stones in front of a fragment of rock,
and throwing a blanket over the top. My
people crept into holes and crevices in the
face of the mountain. The night was clear
though cold. The snow terminated on our
left, about three miles from the top ofthe pass,
in a bluff point nearly fifty feet high; several
rills trickled from its base, to supply the stream
which we were thence to follow. Early in
the afternoon we arrived at the place of our
former encampments at Trattang, and thence
proceeded without much more difficulty or
fatigue to Le. The only occurrence worthy

CH. IX.J RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. 81
of notice was the appearance of several
kiangs near the Nakpo gonding pass. Not
having a gun with me, I missed a good oppor
tunity of bringing one down, as they ap
proached nearer than on any former occasion.
I had, however, a good view of the animal,
and am inclined to pronounce him to be an
ass with some affinity to a mule.

VOL. II.

83

PART III.
JOURNEY TO KASHMIR AND PESHAWAR.

CHAPTER I.
Relinquishment of the route by Yarkand — Departure from Le—
Friendly sentiments of the Authorities ; and of the People —
Wife of the Nuna Khalun — Upper road— Parties met on the
way — Fall of a horse — Pass — Valley of Dras — Inroad from Ha-
sora — Precipitate retreat — Mischief inflicted — Causes ofthe
aggression — Continuation of the route — Phandas — Matayan —
Boundary between Ladakh and Kashmir — Entrance into Kash
mir — Zwaje La Valley — Pine Forests — Sona-murg — Sindh
River — Station of Gagan-gir— Met by Surat Sing and escort —
Villages — Anchal Lake — Entrance into the capital pf Kash
mir — Permission to winter in the city.
In the month of September Abdul Latif re
turned from Yarkand, and brought informa
tion that all attempts to procure the sanction
of the Chinese authorities to our journey to
that city were unavailing. The design was
therefore abandoned, and I determined to
proceed to Bokhara by way of Kashmir and
Kabul. As soon as this was known, the
g 2

84 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART 111.
Khalun and Banka expressed their regret at
our departure, and at the disappointment we
had experienced; they declared themselves
entirely satisfied with our conduct during our
stay, and requested us to leave testimonials
of our opinion of their behaviour towards us,
promising to forward to me, at any time, any
thing I might wish to have from the country,
and to give a welcome reception to any
European who might hereafter visit Ladakh.
The Khalun also expressed his hope that the
state of Ladakh would be looked upon with
favour by the British government. The
Lonpa concurred in these sentiments, and the
Raja and his son stated that they prayed
every possible good might attend us. Presents
of china, silks, tea, and a horse, were then
made me, and on the 20th of September I
made my first march finally for Le.
The Imam and all the principal merchants
accompanied us the first stage to Skarra, and
many quitted us only on the third morning,
when we started for Ling. At Phiang the
deputy of the monastery entertained us in the
absence of his principal, and sent us a supply
of flour and butter for our journey; and on

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 85
our arrival at Ling, we were met by many
persons for whom I had prescribed in my
former visit, and who evinced their gratitude
by bringing supplies of meal, butter, and ap
ples. At Himis I collected a quantity of the
seed of the flower or beardless barley, and at
various places on my route provided a supply
of apple-pips, apricot-kernels, and the seeds
of grain, for transmission to India and to
England. At Molbi I was appealed to by
the wife ofthe Nuna Khalun, who was absent
at Zanskar, on account of the refusal of my
carriers to pay certain fees customary at this
place. Going to her to discuss the subject,
she received me with much graciousness,
taking my offered hand between both hers
and carrying it to her forehead. A seat was
given me, and, at my request, she sat down
beside me and entered, with great fluency and
animation, upon the subject in dispute. The
Cho-cho, as she was called, was rather good-
looking, and of juvenile appearance, although
the mother of twelve children. She was a
complete woman of business, and commanded
great influence in the district.
Upon arriving at Pushkyum the carriers,

86 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
who had at first proposed to follow the high
road leading over Omba La, now recom
mended the lower one along the Dras river ;
but to this I objected, unless they engaged to
make good any loss that might arise from the
falling of the baggage with the stream. As
they would not agree to this condition, we
took the upper road by Minji. Between
Minji and Lang Kartse we met the son ofthe
Nuna Khalun, with three or four females of
his family, on horseback, the women riding
astride; they were dressed in brocade with
mantles of broad-cloth, and seal-skin boots.
As I was in advance of the party, and without
an interpreter, our greeting was brief. The
Khalun was preceded by a large flock of
sheep, goats, cows, and horses, too probably
the produce of exaction or compulsory gifts.
This young man imitates his father's example,
and, although scarcely twenty, is detested for
his rapacity. This seems to be the season for
visiting, for on the following day we met the
son of the Raja of Soth and his wife, who
were going to Le. They were accompanied
by a band of music. Music and dancing have
followed the introduction of Mohammedanism

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 87
in the western parts of Tibet, and have, in a
great measure, excluded the use of intoxicat
ing liquors. Chang is little known to the
west of Molbi.
From Lang Kartse we proceeded by a dif
ferent route from that formerly followed by
Sankho, and ascended the bank of the Zakut
river, running from west by south, and falling
into the Kartse chu. The path was narrow,
rugged, and steep. At the distance of a mile
and a half we came to a small village, from
the lands of which the crops had been lately
reaped. A large patch of ground was thickly
covered with prangos plants. As we ascended
we experienced the keenness of the wintry
wind, and round the stems of a species of dock
thin bands or ribands of ice had formed. The
road then descended, but soon again took an as
cending direction, skirting the right bank of a
stream at a considerable height above it, which
was carrying a supply of water to the Kartse
chu. Here, on stepping over a block of jas
per which crossed the road, my horse fell, and
rolled with me a considerable way down the
slope before I could get loose. The softness
of the snow prevented my receiving any serir

88 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
ous injury, and the horse was brought up by
a block of stone just upon the edge of a pre
cipitous rock.
We encamped on the 15th of October on
the banks of the Twaji rivulet: snow fell
during the night. On the following day we
ascended and crossed the pass: we reached
the verge of the descent without difficulty,
but there we found the snow from three to
four feet deep, completely concealing the
path, which ran along the edge of a cliff, in
many places precipitous. We were obliged
to unload the horses, and carry their burthens
by men over the dangerous parts, an opera
tion which delayed our progress. Below us
the valley of Dras was at times concealed
from our view by the clouds rolling under our
feet, or by the snow storms which they dis
charged. On my arrival at the first house,
called Sugatial, I was informed that Dijas had
been plundered on the preceding night by
the Raja of Hasora, with eight hundred men,
of all the cattle and every thing of value.
Three hundred men, it was said, occupied
the plain where I had pitched my tent in
July, and several parties were pointed out to

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 89
me. Snow fell in large flakes, and we were
surrounded by a number of half-naked and
frightened people, who were unable to give
us any assistance. As night was coming on,
all we could do was to make the best possible
arrangements against an attack, and I or
dered the Sipahis of my escort to fire several
rounds, for the double purpose of intimating
our presence, and of getting their pieces in
order, should they be required.
On the morning ofthe 17th we were joined
by the Chamal, the principal landholder and
receiver of the customs, and a party of people
well armed, with whom we descended together
to the villages on the left bank of the Dras
river. The Hasoras had retired, alarmed at
the approach of my party, against whose
muskets their matchlocks were of no avail at
such a season, when the snow rendered it
impossible to keep the matches alight, and
further deceived, perhaps, by our apparent
strength, for it was ascertained that our
march had been descried at a considerable
distance ; and as we were in all seventy per
sons, forming with our horses and sheep a
long straggling line, we made a more formid-

90 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III;
able appearance amongst the mountains than
our real strength would have presented.
From whatever motive, however, it was, they
withdrew before they had time to carry off
the grain, or to finish a game of Polo, for
which they had marked out the ground : the
cattle and other property they carried off;
along with the Karpun of the district. Two
men, badly wounded, came to me to be
dressed ; and in one of the houses was found
the body of Mohammed Malik, the younger
brother of Rasul Malik, who had been shot
in his apartment. Another man who had
been killed was a Kashmirian. A party of
seven men had been sent to seize or slay the
Chamal, and had come to his house for that
purpose. Rushing up stairs, but not know
ing his person, they asked the first man they
found, who was the Chamal himself, where
he was; he had presence of mind to direct
them to a lower apartment, on which six de
scended, and finding the Kashmirian, put
him to death : the Chamal knocking down
the man left to guard him, leapt from the top
of the house, and escaped to the mountains.
On inquiring into the amount of the plunder,

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 91
it appeared that about five hundred horses,
eight hundred head of neat cattle, and ten
thousand sheep had been driven off, and that
most of the domestic utensils, and all the best
wearing apparel had been taken away, re
ducing the villagers from a state of relative
affluence to absolute misery.
On the 18th the Karpun returned, to the
great joy of the people, with whom he was
popular. He had been liberated by order of
Sultan Shah, the Hasora chief, upon his dis
claiming any knowledge of indignities offered
at Dras to Wali Ju, a Kashmirian envoy from
Sultan Shah to Le. In the disputes between
Balti and Ladakh, the latter power had inter
cepted the supply of salt to Balti, and a mes
senger had been sent from Hasora to repre
sent the inconvenience suffered by that state
from this privation, and to pray for its re
moval. Wali Ju arrived at Dras on this mis
sion. Some time before this, some horses
belonging to Rasul Malik had been stolen
from Matayan, on the Tibet frontier, and had
been traced to the Raja of Hasora, and when
the envoy of the latter appeared at Dras, he
was threatened with detention until the horses

92 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
should be restored. The character of the
Raja was also rather uncourteously handled.
The Karpun and Chamal declared that Wali
Ju had never been in actual durance, and
that he laid no claim to the character of an
accredited envoy; he appeared as a trader,
and was suspected by them as a spy: how
ever this might be, he reported to the Raja
that he had been confined, and not allowed
to proceed on his journey, and that the func
tionaries of Dras had used insulting language
towards his employer. It was to revenge
these indignities that the foray had taken
place. Amongst the rest I was a sufferer,
for I lost sixty-seven sheep I had formerly
purchased, which had been left in the charge
of the Chamal. The difficulty of procur
ing fresh horses and grain, and the alarm
and indecision of our carriers, detained us ten
days at Dras, during which all the males,
with the Karpun at their head, set off for Le
to make their complaints to the Raja.5 Find
ing there was no chance of procuring carriage,
Mir Izzet Ullah took five horses and made
the best of his way to Sona-murg ; there he
met an agent of the Malik with fifty men and

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 93
as many horses, which had been dispatched
to meet us, in anticipation of the embarrass
ments we were likely to experience. They
joined us on the 28th of October, and on the
following day we resumed our journey.
After crossing a rivulet running into the
Dras river on its right bank, our road skirted
the latter, proceeding along the Himbab val
ley : at two miles and a half from the last vil
lage, a considerable stream* falls into the Dras
river on its left bank : the course ofthe latter
is much broken by rocks, over which it rushed
with great rapidity, and the water though
clear was of so deep a blue, that it looked as
ifit held some salt of copper in solution. At
about four miles from Dras, in a narrow val
ley, we passed the small hamlet of Pandras,
or Phandas|, the lands of which were mostly
in 'grass. The Prangos had accompanied our
march, and at this place its hay was piled up
on blocks of stone. A little beyond Pandras
* Mr. Trebeck considered this to be one ofthe heads of the Dras
river ; and he understood it to rise about eight miles off. The
last, and according to some, the chief village of Dras stood on its
left bank, not far from the junction.— Ed.
t Gholam Hyder calls it, and probably correctly, Paiu-dras, or
lower Dras. — Ed.

94 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
the river flowed from the southward, and con
tinued in this direction till we reached Ma-
tayan, where we halted.
Matayan was a miserable hamlet of half a
dozen mean houses of rubble building, and
the inhabitants seemed to be wretchedly poor.
The flocks and herds, however, were numer
ous and in good condition. On the 30th we
followed the course of the river, marching oc
casionally on either bank, until we lost sight
of it at the end of a defile, one part of it coming
from a recess in the rocks about a mile off to
the north of west, and the rest from beneath
a bed of snow, along which we passed. About
a thousand paces further on, we came to a
large stone which marked the boundary of
Ladakh, and we thence ascended a steep and
rugged acclivity, which led to the summit of
a lofty pass. Soon after quitting the source
of the Dras river we came to a small rivulet,
taking an opposite direction, or south-west.
This was soon joined by a large stream from
the south, coming from under a bed of snow
on the face of the Waga Sugan mountain, the
pyramidal peak of which, visible at no great
distance on our left, is said to be never free

CH. I

J AND PESHAWAR. 95

from snow. The stream then crossed our
path, and continued its course between per
pendicular rocks on its southern, and a steep
ascent on its northern side, forming a ravine
which, in the winter months, is entirely blocked
up by ice and snow. A rather steep acclivity
led up the side of a hill, on turning which to
the left, a valley, forming the entrance into
Kashmir, came in view, and, as if by magic,
presented a striking contrast in its brown
mountains and dark forests of tall pines to
the bare rocks and few stunted willows, to
which we had so long been accustomed. It
is this part of the pass to which the name of
Zwaje La is applied, and which seems to be
the same as the Baltal Kotal of Desideri. It is
considered as the principal pass by the Kash-
mirians, but is less elevated than the one first
crossed. As the ascent from Matayan had been gra
dual and tolerably easy, we were not prepared
for so abrupt a descent as the western face ofthe
pass presented. The path was planned in zig
zag, but it was so narrow, steep, and slippery,
that we had great difficulty in keeping our foot
ing,, and still more in effecting the safe passage

96 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
of the horses. The mountains below were
clothed to their summits with pines, and ge
nerally skirted at the bases with birch-trees.
Another large feeder from the south joined the
river, which is here called the Kana patri.
Although the sides of the mountains were
deep in snow, and such vegetable surface as
appeared was brown and withered, yet the air
felt mild and even warm, compared with that
to which we had been lately exposed. We
encamped in a forest, and one very important
change occurred in the no longer scanty sup
ply of fuel. We indulged ourselves with such
luxurious fires as Tibet had never witnessed.
To my great alarm, however, the passage of
the sheep over the ghat was delayed till after
nightfall, and several men on horseback were
sent to their aid. They reached the tents at
midnight. On the 31st we continued our march along
the valley, running nearly east and west. It
was not above a quarter of a mile broad : on
the southern side, the steep acclivities of the
mountains were covered with fir-forests ; those
on the north were less abrupt, but more thinly
wooded, the pine evidently affecting a north-

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 97
ern aspect. The ground was abundantly car
peted with grass. In a convenient part of
the forest, on the plain, were two log-houses,
built for the accommodation of travellers.
The river ran along our left, and was joined
by another considerable stream from the south,
coming from the neighbouring mountain. In
one place, on its left bank, an extensive
tract was covered by the ruins of trees, which
had been felled, apparently, by a storm, as
they were all lying in one direction, with their
tops towards the north. At an early hour we
reached the village of Sona-murgh, said to be
so named from the golden bird, or pheasant,
found in the vicinity. It consisted of five or
six houses on the right bank of the river, which
here takes the name of Sindh.
The first appearance of the people of Kash
mir was anything but prepossessing. The
dress of both men and women consisted of a
long loose wrapper and a low woollen cap,
both sufficiently dirty. The legs and feet
were bare, or wooden clogs were bound to the
latter by straps of leather or straw. Poverty
and discontent were the prevailing character
istics. The chief article of food was a kind of
VOL. II. H

98 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
greenish-coloured bread made from the tromba,
or buck-wheat.
On our advance from Sona-murgh, we were
met by letters from the Malik, from Khaja
Shah Nyas Khan, and from Surat Sinh, the
latter of whom announced himself as deputed
by the Subahdar of Kashmir, Dewan Moti
Ram, to attend upon, and conduct me to
the capital. On the preceding day I had re
ceived a letter from Raja Ranjit Sinh, ap
prising me that at my intercession he had
granted Khajah Shah Nyas a pension of five
thousand six hundred rupees. This proved
to be little better than a nominal allowance ;
but it showed that I had not incurred the
serious displeasure of the Sikh by my interfer
ence in the affairs ofthe Khaja and of Ladakh.
For some way beyond Sona-murgh the road
was little else than a narrow path along the
right bank of the Sindh, which received se
veral small streams on its way. In one place
it ran between a narrow gap in the mountain,
at a place called Hang, over which we had to
proceed by a very difficult and scabrous as
cent, obstructed by blocks and fragments of
stone, and dangerous from frequent slips.

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 99
From hence the road runs through a forest, in
which I recognised the walnut, horse-chesnut,
sycamore, ash, apricot, and other varieties.
On clearing the forest, we came to a culti
vated slope with a few houses, called Gagan-
gir, where a thana for the levy of customs had
been established, to prevent the smuggling of
shawl-wool, which was formerly conveyed
across the mountains to the garden of Shah-
limar, and thence privily introduced into the
city. We were met at this place by the son of
the Malik, a boy of about ten years old, and
by a pandit, who offered us a present of
money and refreshments on the part of Ja-
wahir Mal. As we advanced the valley ex
panded, and much land was in cultivation,
and many villages appeared ; at one of which,
named Gondh, the residence of Rasul Malik,
we were met by Surat Sinh, and several Sir
dars, on horseback, and an escort of light in
fantry, armed with matchlocks, swords, and
shields. He welcomed me on the part of the
Dewan, and insisted on my taking one rupee
out of a number which he presented. He
h2

100 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
was accompanied by the Malik, who seemed
much affected at his brother's death. We
were conducted to his house, and ushered into
a matted apartment with a hearth, on which
blazed a cheerful fire of pine-logs. We were
regaled with tea, and afterwards with roasted
chickens and venison, accompanied with
wheaten cakes. We were then again served
with buttered and salted tea, and shortly
afterwards, in spite of our remonstrances, with
pilao. The Malik stated that letters had been
received from the Raja of Balti, disavowing
all concern in the late inroads from Hasora,
and that as soon as the weather Dermitted a
force would proceed from Kashmir to exact
retribution from the aggressors.
On the 1st of November we crossed the
Sindh, about two miles from Gondh, by a
bridge ; but we still continued to follow its
course to the west. The land was only par
tially cultivated, and was much intersected
with forest, chiefly of fruit-trees, or walnuts,
apricots, and apples growing wild. We passed
several villages, some of considerable size.
Kangan, on the right bank, which was one of

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 101
the largest, had a large building, used as a
mosque. Along the river we observed planks
and timber floating down to the city. We
halted at Mamar, a small village about half a
mile from the river. From thence, on the fol
lowing day, we proceeded to Nunar, about
eight kos. A pandit, and some other per
sons, brought a present of fruit from the
Dewan. On the 3rd we quitted the Sindh and its val
ley, and turning the southern range of moun
tains, now degenerated to low hills, passed the
village and guzar, or custom-house, of Gan-
darbal, and came in sight of the small lake of
Anchal in front of us, and the Kohi maran,
the fortress that defends the eastern extremity
of the city, situated upon a small hill on our
left. At the guzar we met the physician of
Omar Khan, about to proceed to Indejan by
Balkh and Hissar, and Mir Ali Baksh, a rela
tion of Mir Izzet Ullah. About two miles
from the capital, a party of horse, and a de
tachment of the regiment of infantry disci
plined in the European fashion, under the son
of Nand Ram, awaited our approach, and es
corted us past the remains of the Nazim bagh

102 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
into the city. The streets and houses were
lined with spectators, and we proceeded
through them to a neglected garden, once that
of Dilawar Khan, in a building in which
some apartments had been prepared for our
accommodation. As we advanced Surat Sinh
was assailed by many clamorous appeals from
the crowd, and hands were stretched out, and
cries addressed to us, praying for our inter
ference to save the inhabitants from starvation.
An order, it appeared, had recently emanated
from Raja Ranjit Sinh, prohibiting the sale
of any of this year's crop of rice until a deficit
of five lakhs in the revenue of the preceding
year had been discharged.
During the first day subsequent to our ar
rival we were beset by crowds of people, who
not only filled the garden, but came in boats
along a lake adjoining, on the border of which
stood a sort of summer-house, in which I had
taken up my quarters. The Hurkaras of the
Dewan would have prohibited the people
from approaching me, but I desired them to
be admitted, hoping that in a few days the
public curiosity would be satisfied. This,
however, was far from the case, and the mul-

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 103
titude rather increased : amongst the crowd
were men who had served as sipahis in India,
and merchants from Delhi and Benares : the
latter, as well as the Banias of Kashmir, ten
dered their services to advance whatever cash
I might require for my bills on Hindustan.
There was one man who had been at Calcutta,
and not a little mystified his countrymen by
stories, for the veracity of which he appealed
to me. He had come to Kashmir to purchase
shawls, and his remarks on those of English
manufacture may be worth recording. At the
first glance, he said, they 'looked like those of
Kashmir; but upon inspection were found
less soft in texture, and less brilliant in colour ;
and the weaving of the flowers, when exam
ined on the wrong side, looked more like the
disposition of threads left by the needle of
the embroiderer, than by the bobbin of the
weaver. It was his belief that if a thread or two
were unravelled, the whole flower would come
out. He was satisfied, he said, that if we had
the materials we should have the manufacture,
and that it was our own fault if we had not
the former.

104 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
The Dewan Moti Ram had fixed the second
day after my arrival for giving me audience,
but indisposition obliged him to defer this for
several days longer, and in the mean time a re
ference to Ranjit Sinh became necessary. The
Raja had stated in his instructions to Moti
Ram that we purposed staying eight or ten
days at Kashmir, a period that by no means
suited my convenience. I had left Mr. Tre-
beck in Ladakh, to wait for a servant who
was bringing me a valuable packet of pearls
and coral from Delhi, and I could scarcely
expect he would join me in less than a month.
It also required some time for us to re-esta
blish our marching equipage, exhausted and
disfurnished at it was by our long sojourn in
Tibet. It was therefore necessary to apply
for permission to remain for a further period
in Kashmir ; and this being readily conceded,
we quartered ourselves in Kashmir for the
winter months, resuming our movements only
in May, 1823.
The garden-house, belonging formerly to a
nobleman named Dilawar Khan, situated on
the Biari nam bal, a small lake, or rather an

CH. I.] AND PESHAWAR. 105
expanse of one of the chief canals of the city,
was assigned for our residence, and here, as
at Le, my time was spent in medical practice,
collecting information, and occasional excur
sions.

106 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.

CHAPTER II.
Description of Kashmir— Succession of Valleys and Mountains
— Richness of Vegetation — Moisture of Climate — Vitastha or
Behut river — Its feeders — Wular lake — Dal lake — Extent ofthe
valley of the Behut — Breadth of Kashmir — Divisions — Situation
of city— Canals — Houses — Public Edifices — Great Mosque-
Bridges — Population — Distress — Disease — Revenues — Charac
ter of the people — Literature — Dress — Food — Agricultural and
other products — Grains — Rice — Sinhara, or Water-nut — Lotus-
stem — Floating gardens — Fruit — Vines — Walnut-trees — Fo
rest-trees — Animals, &c. — Winter fodder — Cotton — Silk — Cos-
tus — Bees — Minerals.
Kashmir has been often described, but it may
be doubted if any of the descriptions yet pub
lished have conveyed an accurate notion of
the country ; and the designation of ' valley,'
which is ordinarily applied to it, is by no
means an appropriate term. The course of
the Vitastha, or Behut, does, indeed, form
one principal valley, extending from the east
ern to the western limits of the province ; but
the greater part of the country is made up of
a similar disposition of vale and mountain, as
is observable in all these alpine regions, and
consists of a series of mountain ranges, run
ning mostly in parallel lines from south-west

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 107
to north and east, separated by glens, which
are in general of no great breadth.
The chief peculiarity by which Kashmir is
distinguished from the mountain countries on
its confines is the richness of its vegetation.
The mountains, although for a considerable
part of the year capped in many parts with
snow, are coated with rich forests, and at their
bases is a productive alluvial soil abounding
with verdure, or, where cultivated, with plen
tiful harvests, especially of rice. The cause
of this is, no doubt, to be found in the humi
dity of its climate, which formed to our feelings
a very disagreeable contrast to the dryness of
the atmosphere of Ladakh.
The year in Kashmir may be divided into
summer and winter seasons, of nearly equal
duration, the former being in general some
what the longest. Snow usually begins to fall
in December, and disappears from the warmer
valleys in March. In the passes on the fron
tiers it remains of considerable depth till the
middle of April, and lies throughout the year
on the crests of some of the loftiest of the
chains which surround the province. The
total annual quantity is so great, that it bends
the branches of the wild apple-trees, on which

108 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
it rests for months, into a right angle with
their trunks, giving them the appearance of
cypresses. The end of March and beginning of April
are distinguished by the popular term of dirty
spring, or mud season ; and these appella
tions, in regard to the mire of the surface, and
the rapid succession of gusts of wind and hail,
with short gleams of sunshine, are well de
served. In April, 1823, there were but four
days of sunshine, and the waters of the neigh
bouring lakes rose three feet, by the accession
of large quantities of rain and of melted snow
poured into them by mountain-torrents. In
May, of the same year, scarcely a day passed
without a shower, and dense clouds constantly
rested upon the summits of the mountains,
exhibiting an atmosphere surcharged with
moisture. The remaining summer months
are hot, and bring the fruits and grain to rapid
maturity. The abundant supply of water
from snow and rain is collected into numerous
streams and lakes, the overflowing of which,
with the evaporation from them, preserve both
soil and atmosphere in a humid condition,
more propitious to vegetable than to animal
life.

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 109
The traditions of the country assert, that
the whole of Kashmir, intending thereby the
principal line of valley, was originally one
large lake, and the aspect of the province
confirms the truth of the legend, the subsi
dence of the waters being distinctly defined
by horizontal lines on the face of the moun
tains: it is also not at all unlikely to have
been the scene of some great convulsion of
nature, as indications of volcanic action are
not unfrequent : hot springs are numerous :
at particular seasons the ground in various
places is sensibly hotter than the atmosphere,
and earthquakes are of common occurrence.
What the central and more elevated parts of
the mountains may consist of, we did not
ascertain ; but their sides and bases consist
of clay, whilst in the valley the soil is a rich
vegetable mould, often more or less exten
sively inundated, from the numerous streams
and watercourses by which the surface is tra
versed. When neglected after cultivation, it
throws up a thickly-matted sod of florin, or
dub-grass, little mixed with rank herbage,
except in the immediate vicinity of unre
claimed forests.

110 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III. v
The chief river of Kashmir is the Vitastha,
Vehut or Behut, the Hydaspes of the ancients.
This rises at an angle of the mountains, chiefly
from the springs of Viranag, in the south
east extremity of Kashmir. It is immediately
joined by a stream from the south, the Kai-
mu river, and another from the north, the
river of Brang. This latter rises by two
heads in the district of the same name, to the
east of Islamabad, at eight kos distance. It
again divides into two branches, the more
northerly of which is joined by a small stream
from Kotonhara, arid the more southerly by
the stream from Vir Nag : the two main
trunks again meet near Islamabad and form
the Behut, which, as it proceeds, receives
other streams, as the Lambodari or the Lidder
from the north-east, on the road to Amara-
nath, and the Shupien or Shuingulu river,
which is formed by various rivulets from the
north of the Pir Panchal mountains. The
Sindh, which takes its source from the Zwaje
La pass, forms its own valley, and passing
round the city falls into the Behut on the
northern bank, about seven kos above it, and
the Dudh Ganga comes from the south, rising,

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. Ill
it is said, thirty kos off from the Sang-safed,
and joins the Behut just above the capital.
The Behut passes through the city, receiving
waters from its various canals. Besides the
Dudh Ganga, it is joined from the south by
the Haratirtha river, and then flows through
an angle of the Wular lake. It is then joined
by the Lalakoal river from the north, after
which it proceeds to the pass of Baramula,
where it leaves the province. It then turns
southward to Muzeffarabad, where it is joined
by the Muzeffarabad river, and then proceeds
to the Panjab, where it is known as the
Jhelum. During the whole of its course in
Kashmir it is navigable, although it varies
much in its depth. In December, in its
course through the city, it was seventy yards
broad, from one to two fathoms deep, and
ran at the rate of eight hundred yards an
hour. In May it rose twenty-five feet, and it
was said that it sometimes attained an eleva
tion of thirty.
The Wular, or Ular Lake, is of an elliptical
form, and may be nearly forty miles in cir
cumference*: it lies about twelve kos north-
* Baron Hiigel says that it extends thirty miles from east to

112 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
west of the city. Adjoining to the latter on
the east is the Dal, a less extensive piece of
water, supplied by some small streams flow
ing down a confined valley, interposed be
tween the valleys of the Behut and Sindh,
and sending off its superfluous waters by dif
ferent canals, flowing through the city to the
Behut. There are several other small lakes
within the province, as the Anchar, Manas,
and others.
The whole length of the valley of the
Behut, constituting the greatest extent of
Kashmir from south-east to north-west, may
be about fifty miles ; the greatest breadth of
the valley, immediately to the west of the
city, is not above fifteen miles ; and in many
parts it is much less, or not more than five or
six. The whole breadth of Kashmir may be
about forty or fifty miles, the greatest portion
of which, to the north of the Behut, consists
of lofty mountains and narrow valleys, thinly
west, which is much beyond the truth. Forster says the_Wuller
lake is only seven or eight miles in circumference. According to
Abulfazl, the circumference was twenty-eight kos, but of what
kind of kos he does not mention, although he probably meant the
Ilahi, which would make the extent of the lake about sixty miles.
It may, perhaps, have somewhat filled up since his time— Ed.

CH. II.]

AND PESHAWAR.

113

inhabited. The province is divided into
thirty-six perganas, the names of which, with
their principal places respectively, are the
following : —

On the left bank of the Behut.

On the r

ght bank.

Fergana.

Town.

Fergana.

Town.

1 Bannahal

Shahabad.

1 Brang

Sagam.

2 Deosar

Kolagam.

2 Kotohar

Chatar.

3 Batu

Shupien.

3 Martand



4 Suprasaman



4 Dakshinpara

Kanyalwan.

5 Adwaind

Mohanpur.

5 Kaharwapara



6 Shukaruh



6 Islamabad

Islamabad.

7 Mohammeda-

Mohammeda-

7 Sair-vd Ma-

bad

bad.

waza, upper

Several places

8 Megam

Muran.

8 Wular

Tral.

9 Yecha

Yechagam.

9 Vehu

Pamper.

10 Dainsok

Wampura.

10 Phak

Pan j gam.

11 Manchamun

Suibok.

ULar

Lar.

12 Birua

Wanigam.

12 Atsan

Atsan.

13 Baladak

Khusliipur.

13 Sair-ul Ma-

Safapur and

14 Tahirabad



waza, lower

others.

15 Parispur

Gondi Khaja

14 Kuhiama

Alusa.

Kasim

15 Zein-nagar



16 Tilagam

Patan

16 Lolab

Sogam *.

17 Bainjil

Uttamagam

18 Anderkoth
Sumbhelpur
19 Krohin
Wagur
20 Kamraj, including Kahoi, Ha-
mal Machipura, Durbed, and
Karnao.
* Ritter has compile d from various sources a list of thirty-four
perganas, the names of several of which agree with those of the
text. It is also to be remarked that several names, both of dis
tricts and principal villages or towns, occur in the notes ofthe ex
cursions made in the country by both our travellers, which are not
included in the above list — Ed.
VOL. II. I
114 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Several of these districts are very small, and
few even of their chief places are more than
villages. The mountainous tracts have the
general name of Narwao, and the valleys
Nal or Nala. The principal passes into the
country are, to the south the Shupien, leading
over the Pir Panchal mountains, and others
crossing the mountains of Prunch ; on the
west that of Baramula; Zwaje La on the
east, and the Kamri-bal on the north. The
elevation of Zwaje La is nearly twelve thou
sand feet ; that of the valley in general about
five thousand*.
The city of Kashmir, or as it was formerly
called, Srinagar, lies on either bank of the
Behut, extending about four miles : the prin
cipal part, the north-west, lies mostly to the
north of the river; on the south-east and
south of the river is the suburb of Sher Gerh,
attached to a fortress of no great strength or
extent : at the same end, the eastern extrem
ity of the city, is situated the hill called the
Hari-parbat or Kohi-maran, at the southern
* Baron Hiigel names twelve passes, five of which are of recent
use. Journ. Geog. Soc, vol. vi. p. 347. M. Jacquemont calls the
elevation of the city five thousand two hundred and forty-six feet.
—Ed.

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 115
foot of which is the Lake or Dal, and imme
diately to the south of that rises the eminence
called the Takhti Suliman, or Throne of So
lomon. The Kohi-maran is surmounted by
a long narrow fort, beneath the bastions of
which, on the edge of the rock, two or three
large guns are mounted, which command the
city. It may be doubted if the fortress itself
could be furnished with cannon, as it is en
tirely roofed over, and presents no appear
ance of embrasures. The slope of the hill is
covered with houses.
The Dal or Lake is nearly circular, but the
number of floating gardens it contains pre
vents its outline from being distinctly made
out : it may be about nine miles in circumfer
ence. It is supplied chiefly by the waters of
the valley, t<J the east of the garden of Shahli-
mar, the principal part of which flows through
the canal of Tej-bal into the lake, and the rest,
after supplying the cascades of the garden,
also enters the lake. Towards the Hari Par-
bat the Dal breaks into several small canals,
the principal of which is the Raini-war, and
which flowing to the west, and receiving se
veral smaller canals, divides above the bridge
i 2

116 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
of Naupura into two branches ; one of these
turning more to the south, joins another con
siderable canal from the lake, and the united
stream flows into the Behut, at the water-
gate of the city opposite to Sher Gerh. The
other branch passes under the bridge, and
turning to the north-west, expands into the
Beari Nam-bal, on the western edge of which
lay the garden of Dilawar Khan, in which
we were quartered. From the northern edge
of this expanse, the canal now called the
Nala Mar proceeds through the town, passing
underneath several bridges, and being the
most serviceable of any of the canals,
although not kept in very good order : it has
water sufficient to admit of boats of consider
able burden, and grain is brought by this
means into the heart of the city. Between
the bridges called Saraf-kadal and Kazi-
kadal, and on each side of the canal, is the
part of the town called Sheikh Mahal, in
which are situated the best houses in Kash
mir, occupied by merchants and bankers : to
the east lies the principal mosque. From
hence the canal follows a semicircular course,
and issues from the town within a few paces

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 117
of the Eid Gah. It then flows to the small
lake of Anchar, and again issuing from it,
proceeds in a curved direction towards the
Behut, which it joins near the debouche of
the Sindh.
The Raini-war canal receives at its com
mencement, where it is called also the water
of Khaja-yar-bal, a small supply from the
northward. The contents of the canal by
which it is brought are furnished by the
Sindh, near the village of Kanja; passing
over a platform, it skirts the base of the hills
past Gandarbal, and sends off a main branch
into the city, to fulfil one of the main objects
of its construction, the provision of a supply
of water to the Jama Masjid, to which it was
led in as direct a line as the surface per
mitted. It is called the Lakhi canal, having
cost a lakh of rupees, and was the work of
Zein-ul-abaddin. The mosque has been thrice
destroyed by fire, and it and the canal were
last repaired by Aurangzeb. The latter is
now choked, but was open till recently, and
supplied several houses close even to the Biari
Nambal. Another branch of the canal goes
off to the Tej-bal, on the east of the lake,
and the rest of its water passes towards the

118 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
foot of the old wall of Nagar, where it forms a
broad ditch, and then continuing its course
along the base of the Kohi Maran on the
north-east, unites with the Raini-war, as
above noticed. These canals are in general
faced with stone, derived frequently from the
ruins of Hindu temples, the sculpture on
which is turned inwards. They are crossed
in various parts by wooden bridges, and upon
the whole afford evidence of the munificence
and public spirit of the ancient princes of
Kashmir. When properly taken care of, and
filled with running water, they no doubt con
tribute to the salubrity, as well as to the
cleanliness of the city ; but their general con
dition is now that of decay, and they render
the town neither cleanly nor salubrious.
The general character of the city of Kash
mir is that of a confused mass of ill-favoured
buildings, forming a complicated labyrinth of
narrow and dirty lanes, scarcely broad enough
for a single cart to pass, badly paved, and
having a small gutter in the centre full of
filth, banked up on each side by a border of
mire. The houses are in general two or three
stories high ; they are built of unburnt bricks
and timber, the former serving for little else

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 119
than to fill up the interstices of the latter;
they are not plastered, are badly constructed,
and are mostly in a neglected and ruinous
condition, with broken doors, or no doors at
all, with shattered lattices, windows stopped
up with boards, paper, or rags, walls out of
the perpendicular, and pitched roofs threaten
ing to fall. The roofs are formed of layers
of birch bark covered by a coating of earth,
in which seeds dropped by birds, or wafted
by the wind, have vegetated, and they are
constantly overrun with grass, flowers, and
seeds. The houses of the better class are
commonly detached, and surrounded by a
wall and gardens, the latter of which often
communicate with a canal : the condition of
the gardens is no better than that of the
building, and the whole presents a striking
picture of wretchedness and decay.
There are no public buildings in the city of
Kashmir entitled to notice for their architec
tural or antiquarian merits. The oldest build
ing is the tomb of the mother of Zein-ul-ab-
addin, who reigned in the middle of the fif
teenth century, and who is said to have made
use of a more ancient Hindu temple for the

120 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
purpose. It is an octagonal building of brick,
surmounted by a dome of great solidity and
strength, the walls being seven or eight feet
thick, but of no beauty. The shrine of Sayid
Ali Hamadani is constructed chiefly of the
wood of the Deodar pine, and is equipped
with a pyramidal steeple of timber, capped
with brass. The most celebrated structure,
however, is the Jama Masjid, or great mosque,
which is capable of containing, it is said,
sixty thousand persons. After having been
four times destroyed by fire, it was last re
built in the time of Aurangzeb : it had been
shut up at the time of our visit by order of
Ranjit Sinh, lest the plea it afforded for the
assemblage of large bodies of Mohammedans
should afford opportunities of plotting against
his rule. The Jama Masjid consists in great
part of wood, a dome and spire of timber of
rude construction, resting partly upon wooden
pillars, and partly on side walls, of which
the foundation and lower portion consist of
roughly hewn stones, and the upper of brick
and mortar. The number of pillars is three
hundred and eighty-four; the intervals are
usually considerable. The columns are

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 121
formed of an assemblage of square blocks of
Deodar, about a foot in diameter, laid at right
angles to each other, so that each face pre
sents a succession of butts and sides, or to
speak more technically, a bond of alternate
headers and leaders : the blocks are probably
secured together by pins, but those are not
seen exteriorly. The columns are in general
about ten feet high, but some are taller than
others. The peculiarity of their construc
tion was, no doubt, suggested by the occur
rence of earthquakes, which are frequent in
Kashmir, though not very violent. Certain
it is, that although the roof and walls have
been rent and shattered in various places,
not one of the pillars appears to have been
seriously injured, or to have deviated from its
original perpendicular. Such also is the du
rability of the timber of the Deodar, that in
none of the columns was any vestige of decay
from exposure or insects to be discovered,
although they have been erected above a cen
tury and a half, and have received for some
time past very little care or attention.
The same valuable material is employed in
the formation of bridges over the canals and

122 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
rivers of the country. Very commonly the
breadth of these requires merely a platform
resting upon haunches; but in many places
it is necessary to support the road-way by
piers in the stream. In this case the piers
are formed of four pieces of the trunk of the
Deodar, laid at right angles over each other,
and leaving in the centre a hollow square of
about two feet. Each pier consists of a shaft,
a basement, and a capital : the shaft is usually
from twenty to twenty-five feet in breadth,
the height varies with the depth of the stream.
The foundation is constructed on the same
principle, but extends beyond the shaft, and
presents to the current a pointed extremity :
it is also filled with heavy stones to prevent
its being carried away. The capital consists
of five graduated tiers of beams, crossing the
water line, and forming the support of the
platform, connecting them at top, which is
formed of layers of Deodar timbers, crossed
and fastened together by pins. This con
struction is so solid, that upon one of the
bridges, the Zein-al-kadal, a line of shops,
the best in the city, is situated. The shops
are built of wood, each with a work-room and

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 123
show-room, and the concourse of buyers is
very considerable. Other bridges over the
Vitastha, as the Hab-alkadal, Fatteh-kadal,
Ali-kadal, and Amir-kadal, the latter close to
the fori; of Sher Gerh, are all built in the
same manner: the foundations and piers of
most of them were in a ruinous condition, but
less from decay in the timbers, than the
action of the current, the displacement of the
stones or blocks of wood, and neglect in giv
ing them occasional repair.
The population of the City of Kashmir,
although much diminished, must be nume
rous. One hundred and twenty thousand
persons, it is said, are employed in the shawl
manufacture alone ; and, although this is the
chief employment of the population, yet the
other trades and occupations, essential to the
support of a large city, must, at least, double
the amount : the population of the province
is estimated at eight hundred thousand*.
Everywhere, however, the people are in the
most abject condition ; exorbitantly taxed by
the Sikh government, and subjected to every
* Baron Hiigel states it to have declined to one-fourth, or two
hundred thousand. Journ. Geog. Soc, vol. vi. p. 348.— Ed.

124 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
kind of extortion and oppression by its offi
cers. The consequences of this system are,
the gradual depopulation of the country : not
more than about one-sixteenth of the cultiva
ble surface is in cultivation, and the inhabit
ants starving at home, are driven in great
numbers to the Plains of Hindustan. In like
manner the people of the city are rapidly
thinning, though less from emigration, than
poverty and disease : the prevalence of the
latter in its most aggravated forms was fear
fully extensive. I devoted every Friday to
the reception of visits from the sick, and a
greater number and cases of greater invete
racy crowded round my door than ever pre
sented themselves at the Hotel de Dieu. I
had at one time no fewer than six thousand
eight hundred patients on my list, a large
proportion of whom were suffering from the
most loathsome diseases, brought on by scant
and unwholesome food, dark, damp, and ill-
ventilated lodgings, excessive dirtiness, and
gross immorality.
According to the prevailing notions on the
subject the whole of the land in Kashmir is
considered to have been, time out of mind,

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 125
the property of the ruler. Of some portions
of the Khalsa lands the sovereigns divested
themselves by grants in Jagir for various
periods, but when the country came into the
hands of the Sikhs, Ranjit Sinh made a
general resumption, and ousted the posses
sors of grants of land of every class, thus
summarily reducing thousands who had long
lived in comfort to a state of absolute desti
tution. The Khalsa lands are now, as heretofore,
let out for cultivation. Those near the city
are termed Sar-Kishti, those more remote
Pai- Kishti ; or head and foot, upper and
lower cultivation. When the grain has been
trodden out, a division takes place between
the farmer and the government : this was
formerly an equal division, but the govern
ment has advanced in its demands until it
has appropriated about seven-eighths of the
Sar-Kishti, and three-fourths of the Pai-
Kishti crop. The straw falls to the share of -
the cultivator, but his case would be despe
rate if it were not practicable to bribe the
overseer or watchman to let him steal a por
tion of his own produce. He has also a

126 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
house to live in ; he can keep his cattle on
the mountains during summer, can cut wood
and bring it to the city for sale, can sell wild
greens and butter -milk, and can support
himself and family upon the wild fruits of
the forest. Still the cultivators of Kashmir
are in a condition of extreme wretchedness,
and, as if the disproportionate demand of the
government was not sufficiently oppressive,
the evil is aggravated by the mode adopted
of disposing of the government share. It is
sent into the market at a high price, and no
individual is allowed to offer the produce of
his farm at a lower rate, or sometimes to dis
pose of it at all, until the public corn has
been sold.
A much larger revenue than that which
is obtained from the land is realised from
the shawl manufacture, every shawl being
stamped, and the stamp-duty being twenty-six
per cent, upon the estimated value. Besides
this a considerable sum is raised by duties
upon the import of wool, and a charge upon
every shop or workman connected with the
manufacture. Nor are these imposts re
stricted to the artisans employed in the

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 127
shawl fabric, every trade is taxed, butchers,
bakers, boatmen, venders of fuel, public no
taries, scavengers, prostitutes, all pay a sort
of corporation tax, and even the Kotwal, or
chief officer of justice, pays a large gratuity
of thirty thousand rupees a year for his ap
pointment, being left to reimburse himself
as he may. A portion of the Sinhara crop,
to the extent annually of a lac of rupees it is
said, is claimed by the government. The
revenue is farmed, and the farmer is inde
pendent of the military governor. At the
time of our visit the sum paid by the farmer
was thirty-eight lakhs of Panjab rupees,
equal to twenty-nine lakhs of Sicca rupees,
or about two hundred and ninety thousand
pounds ; but a much larger sum than this
was extorted from the people, although it
was only to be realised by the greatest rigour
and oppression *.
* Late advices from India report the necessary consequences of
this system. In 1835 scarcely any revenue could be collected.
In 1836 twenty-three lakhs were demanded, hut, according to
Baron Hiigel, it was not likely to be raised. Papers ofthe be
ginning of this year state that Ranjit had reduced the demand to
eighteen lakhs, but that it was not possible to enforce even this
collection. — Ed.

128 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
The natives of Kashmir have been always
considered as amongst the most lively and
ingenious people of Asia, and deservedly so.
With a liberal and wise government they
might assume an equally high scale as a
moral and intellectual people, but at present
a more degraded race does not exist. The
complexion of the Kashmirians varies from
dark to olive, and is sometimes ruddy and
transparent : the eyes are large and full, the
nose is well defined, and commonly of an
aquiline form. The stature varies, but the
Hindus who have least intermixed with fo
reign races are, in general, tall and symme
trically made. The inhabitants of the city
are rather slight, but amongst the peasantry,
both Hindu and Mohammedan, are to be
found figures of robust and muscular make,
such as might have served for models of the
Farnesan Hercules. In character the Kash
mirian is selfish, superstitious, ignorant,
supple, intriguing, dishonest, and false: he
has great ingenuity as a mechanic, and a de
cided genius for manufactures and com
merce, but his transactions are always con
ducted in a fraudulent spirit, equalled only

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 1 2P
by the effrontery with which he faces detec
tion. The vices of the Kashmirian I cannot
help considering, however, as the effects of
his political condition, rather than his nature,
and conceive that it would not be difficult to
transform him into a very different being.
Religious bigotry forms no part of his cha
racter, and the teachers of either faith,
Mullas or Pundits, are exceedingly ignorant,
and possess little influence. Since the esta
blishment of the Sikh authority Hinduism
predominates, and the country is infested by
numerous and audacious bands of mendi
cants. They are patronized rather by the
Government than the people, and the latter
would gladly get rid of their presence^
There seems, indeed, to be little attachment
of either the Mohammedans or Hindus of
Kashmir to their respective creeds, and I am
convinced there is no part of India where
the pure religion of the Gospel might be in
troduced with a fairer prospect of success.
Literature of any description is almost
unknown in Kashmir, and it is not easy to
discover any relics of those celebrated San
scrit compositions which originated in the
VOL. II. K

130 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
patronage of the princes of the country
whilst it was a Hindu principality. Our
attention was especially directed to this
subject by a communication from the Se
cretary of the Asiatic Society, who was de
sirous of procuring copies of the Chronicles
of Kashmir, the Raja Tarangini, of a local
legend called the Nila Purana, and a collec
tion of tales, entitled the Vrihat Katha. The
most particular inquiry was set on foot for
these works, and, after much delay, we heard
of two copies of the Chronicles, written on
birch-bark, and one of the Vrihat Katha, on
a similar material. They were shown to us,
and appeared to be antient. Nothing could
induce the owners to part with them, but
they had no objection to copies being taken.
A copy of the Raja Tarangini was accord
ingly transcribed during our stay, and one
of the Vrihat Katha was put in hand, under
the superintendence of a native friend, who
promised to forward it when finished to Cal
cutta. The Nila Purana was less scarce,
and a copy was purchased, and sent down *.
* The copy of the Raja Tarangini is in the possession of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, to whom it was presented by Mr.

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 131
These were the only Sanscrit works of the
existence of which we obtained any informa
tion. The dress of the people, both male and
female, commonly consists of a long loose
wrapper and trowsers, the former of woollen
cloth. As a further protection against the
cold in winter the Kashmirians usually carry
under their tunic an earthen pot with a small
quantity of live charcoal, a practice that
invariably discolours and sears the skin,
and not unfrequently occasions palsy. The
Hindu women never go veiled, and never
affect concealment, either at home or abroad.
They had long been exempted from the
cruel obligation of burning with their hus
bands, the custom of which, according to tra
dition, was never very popular in Kashmir,
having been suppressed by an edict of Au-
rangzeb in 1 669, and never subsequently re
vived.
Moorcroft. That of the Vrihat Katha was never received. The
Nila Purana was sent to me, and is in my possession, but I doubt
its authenticity. The text of the Raja Tarangini has been
printed at Calcutta, and an edition, with a translation by Captain
Troyer, is about to appear at Paris. An edition of the Vrihat
Katha. is also in course of preparation in Germany by Mr. Brock-
haus, with either a complete or partial translation.-— Ed. *
K 2

132 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
The food of those who can afford it is
partly of meat, mutton of goats or sheep,
which sells at about threepence per pound.
Beef is not procurable, as the Sikh ruler
punishes the death of a cow capitally. The
chief food of the people is vegetable; tur
nips, cabbages, and radishes, the Sinhara, or
water-nut, and rice. The turnips are purple,
or reddish, and speedily become woolly : the
radishes are mostly white and strong: the
cabbages do not head, but the leaves are fre
quently stripped. Besides these, lettuces,
spinach, and other common vegetables are
in extensive use, boiled into a sort of soup,
with a little salt, or even the leaves of the
dandelion, dock, plantain, and mallow ; and
the catkins of the walnut are employed as
food, seasoned with a little salt, mustard, and
walnut oil.
Although wheat, barley, buck-wheat, mil
let, maize, pulse, and amaranthus are grown
in Kashmir, yet the staple of cultivation
is rice. This is sown in the beginning of
May, and is fit to cut about the end of
August. The grain is either sown broad
cast in the place where it is intended to

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 133
stand till ripe, or thickly in beds, from which
it is transplanted when the blade is about a
foot high. As soon as the season will admit
after the 21st of March, the land is opened
by one or more ploughings, according to its
strength, and the clods are broken down by
blows with wooden mattocks, managed in
general by women, with great regularity and
address, after which water is let upon the
soil, which, for the most part, of a reddish
clay, or foxy earth, is converted into a smooth
soft mud. The seed grain, put into a sack of
woven grass, is submerged in a running
stream until it begins to sprout, which hap
pens sooner or later, according to the tem
perature of the water and of the atmosphere,
but ordinarily takes place in three or four
days. This precaution is adopted for the
purpose of getting the young shoot as
quickly as possible out of the way of a
small snail, which abounds in some of the
watered lands of Kashmir, but sometimes
proves insufficient to defend it against the
activity of this diminutive enemy. When
the farmer suspects, by the scanty appear
ance of the plants above -the water in which

134 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART nl"
the grain has been sown, and by the pre
sence of the snail drawn up in the mud, that
his hopes of a crop are likely to be disap
pointed, he repeats the sowing, throwing
into the water some fresh leaves of the
Prangos, called Krangos, which either poison
the snails, or cause them to descend out of
the reach of its influence. The seed is, for
the most part, thrown broadcast into about
four or five inches of water, which depth is
endeavoured to be maintained. Difference
of practice exists as to watering, but it seems
generally agreed that rice can scarcely have
too much water, provided it be not sub
merged except for a few days before it
ripens, when a drier state is supposed to
hasten and to perfect the maturity, whilst it
improves the quality of the grain. In gene
ral the culture of rice is little expensive,
though more so in Kashmir than in Hin
dustan, from its being customary in the
former country to manure the rice lands,
which is never done in the latter. This ma
nure, for the most part, consists of rice
straw, rejected by the cattle, and mixed with
cowdung. It is conveyed from the home-

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 135
stead to the fields by women in small wicker
baskets, and is set on the land with more
liberality than might have been expected
from the distance it is carried. Many of the
rice lands are situated much higher than
might be thought convenient in Hindustan,
and are rather pressed into this species of
culture than naturally inviting, but still
yield good crops, through the facility with
which water is brought upon them from the
streams which fall down the face of the
neighbouring hills. In common seasons the
return of grain is from thirty to forty for one,
on an average, besides the straw.
In the time of Zein ul abaddin the annual
produce of the rice crop is said to have been
seventy-seven lakhs of ass-loads, of which
the sovereign received one-half. At present
the quantity does not exceed twenty lakhs
of loads. The price of rice at the period of
our residence was from two rupees and a
half to three and a half, or between four and
five shillings a load. A kharwar, or ass-
load, is not an indefinite term, but a measure
of sixteen taraks. This, which is the stan
dard of Kashmir, is equal to six sers, a ser

136 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
is equal to twenty pals, and a pal ought to
be equal to three Mohammed Shahi rupees,
and a third. At this rate the ser should
weigh nearly two pounds (the rupee being
173-3 grains). The actual ser, however, is
not above one pound avoirdupois, and an
ass load is, therefore, about ninety -six
pounds. A horse-load consists of twenty-
two taraks.
Another principal article of the food of the
common people, the Sinhara, or water-nut,
grows abundantly in the different lakes in
the vicinity of the capital, and especially in
the Wular lake, which yields an average re
turn of ninety-six to a hundred and twenty
thousand ass-loads a-year. It is fished up
from the bottom in small nets, and affords
employment to the fishermen for several
months. It constitutes the almost only food
of at least thirty thousand persons for five
months in the year. After being extracted
from the shell the nuts are eaten, raw, boiled,
roasted, fried, or dressed in various ways,
after being reduced to flour. The most com
mon preparation is boiling one ser of the flour
with two quarts of water, so as to form a sort

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 137
of gruel, which, though insipid, is nutritive.
The Sinhara, in the shell, is sold at about a
rupee per load.
Another article of food derived from the
lakes is the stem of the Nymphaea Lotus.
In the autumn, after the plate of the leaf has
begun to decay, this has acquired maturity,
and, being boiled till tender, furnishes a
wholesome and nutritious article, which sup
ports, perhaps, five thousand persons in the
city for nearly eight months.
Another, and an important use, made of
the abundant water surface of Kashmir, is
the formation of floating gardens. Various
aquatic plants spring from the bottom of the
lakes, as water lilies, conferva?, sedges, reeds,
&c, and as the boats which traverse these
waters take, generally, the shortest lines they
can pursue to the place of their destination,
the lakes are, in some parts, cut, as it were,
in avenues amongst the plants, which, in
shallows, are separated by beds of sedges
and of reeds. In the latter places the neigh
bouring farmer attempts to establish his
cucumber and melon floats, by cutting off
the roots of the aquatic plants just men-

138 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
tioned, about two feet under the water, so
that they completely lose all connexion with
the bottom of the lake, but retain their for
mer situation in respect to each other. When
thus detached from the soil they are pressed
into somewhat closer contact, and formed
into beds of about two yards in breadth, and
of an indefinite length. The heads of the
sedges, reeds, and other plants of the float,
are now cut off, and laid upon its surface,
and covered with a thin coat of mud, which,
at first intercepted in its descent, gradually
sinks into the mass of matted roots. The
bed floats, but is kept in its place by a stake
of willow driven through it at each end,
which admits of its rising or falling in ac
commodation to the rise or fall of the water.
By means of a long pole thrust amongst the
weeds at the bottom of the lake from the side
of a boat, and turned round several times in
the same direction, a quantity of conferva?
and of other plants is torn off from the bot
tom, and carried in the boat to the platform,
where the weeds are twisted into conical
mounds about two feet in diameter at their
base, and of the same height, terminating at

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 139
the top in a hollow, which is filled with fresh
soft mud, drawn from the bottom of the lake,
to which sometimes wood ashes are added,
though much more frequently omitted. The
farmer has in preparation a large number of
cucumber and melon plants, which have
been raised under mats, and of these, when
they have four leaves, he places three plants
in the basin of every cone or mound, of which
a double row runs along the edge of every
bed, at about two feet distance from each
other. No further care is necessary, except
that of collecting the fruit, and the expense
of preparing the platforms and cones is con
fined to the value of the labour, which alto
gether is trifling, as the work is very soon
done. Perhaps a more economical method
of raising cucumbers cannot be devised, and
though the narrow beds are ordinarily almost
in contact by their sides, yet, by their flex
ible nature, they are so separable that a
small boat may be readily pushed between
the lines without injuring their structure,
and, for the most part, they will bear a man's
weight, but, generally, the fruit is picked off
from the boat. I traversed a tract of about

140 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART II
fifty acres of these floating gardens of cu
cumbers and melons, and saw not above half
a dozen unhealthy plants ; nor have I seen in
the cucumber and melon grounds in the
vicinity of very populous cities in Europe,
or in Asia, so large an expanse of plant in a
state equally healthy, though it must be ob
served, without running into luxuriance of
growth. This condition indicated the situa
tion to be congenial to the constitution of the
cucumber, of which, however, a more sub
stantial proof was found in the very large
number of young fruit set near the crown,
which certainly exceeded what I have before
witnessed in the usual modes of cultivating
this vegetable. It has been noticed that the
top of each mound is formed into a cup or
hollow, which is surrounded by a circle or
belt of weed. This prevents the male dust
from being dissipated, and causes the fecun
dating process to be as complete as can be
wished. Finding that the floating gardens were
most heavily taxed, that a very large quan
tity of cucumbers was daily brought from
them into the market, and that these were

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 141
readily digested, and, when eaten largely,
produced no disease, I was induced to pay
the gardens a second visit a little more than
a fortnight after the first, and at the end of
June. The plants had thrown out vines, but
these, though thick and well set with flowers,.
and with large healthy leaves, had not ac
quired great length. The fruiting was still
confined, in great measure, to the crown, in
each of which, notwithstanding the continued
cropping, there were generally from one to
three fruit, the largest from five to seven
inches in length, and from one and a half to
two inches in diameter. The number of
flowers was great, and young fruit were
thickly set. It was observed that the stems
of many plants had been newly earthed up
by about two handfuls of black mud brought
from the bottom of the lake. At this visit I
saw not any weakly plant save one, before
remarked, and this, greatly recovered, was
now full of flower. The general depth of
the floating beds, or mats of weeds and of
earth, taken together, was about two feet,
and I now observed that some of the beds
were about seven feet broad. The general

142 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
arrangement was a line of cucumber cones,
bordering each edge, and one of water, or of
musk melons, along the middle. The melon
plants had become strong, and their cones
were now wound round with a fresh addition
of conferva? and of other weeds, so as to give
to each about five feet in diameter.
The gardeners reported the utmost yield to
be about twenty-five large fruit from each
cone, which seemed to be but a small return
in proportion to the large surface of flower,
the length of the season of crop, and the ra
pidity of the growth of the fruit. The sea
son lasts for three months and a half, begin
ning in June. The fruit is seldom or ever
pulled in the small or girkin state, and dif
fers in weight, when of a proper age for the
market, from about eight or ten ounces to a
pound and a quarter, or a pound and a half.
From the first setting of the fruit to the time
of pulling, seven or eight days are the ordi
nary period. Having been much acquainted
with the unwillingness of the farmers of the
East to make a true report of the produce of
their farms, I employed a servant of mine,
who lived amongst the water gardeners, to

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 143
obtain an accurate account of the yield of a
cone. He stated that, in answer to his in
quiries, the gardeners acknowledged that
thirty full - sized fruit for every plant, or
from ninety to one hundred, were the aver
age crop of one cone in the season. In the
early part the cucumbers of full size sell at
the rate of about three for a piece of coin of
about the value of a halfpenny, but as the
weather becomes hotter, and the plants get
into full bearing, ten, fifteen, and even
twenty, are purchaseable for this price. It
is calculated that every cone yields a money
return of about eighteen pence, or each plant
about six tunga of two pice each. Allowing
sixpence for labour of every description, and
including also the tax, the clear profit is a
shilling for every two square yards. The
yield of the melon and water-melon is nu
merically less, but the return of profit is at
least equal, in consequence of the fruit being
sold at from a halfpenny to twopence each.
The seed of the melon is brought annually
from Baltistan, or Little Tibet, and the first
year yields fruit of from four to nine and ten
pounds each in weight ; but if the seed of this

144 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [_1>ART Ilr'
melon be re-sown, the produce of the second
year exceeds not from two to three pounds.
On a more minute inquiry it would seem
that the melons are sweet and well flavoured,
whilst the water-melons are of the common
quality of this fruit. Unless when eaten to
great excess the melon produces not any de
rangement in the intestines, but in the latter
instance sometimes causes purging. It is re
marked that healthy persons, who live upon
this fruit almost wholly during the season,
become speedily fat, and the same effect is
reported in regard to horses fed upon this
fruit at Bokhara. Although water -mint
grows spontaneously upon the floats, and
the return is so profitable in cucumbers, no
other vegetables are raised upon the spaces
between the cones.
Thefts of whole floats are sometimes com
mitted by persons joining in two or three
boats, to tow them off to distant parts of the
lake in the night, and the property thus stolen
is difficult to be identified. To prevent such
depredation, as well as night robbery of the
cones, two persons generally sleep in a boat,
which is pushed under the shelter of a roof

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 145
of mats. The floating gardens are generally
cut off from the body of the lake by a belt of
floating reeds, which also serve, in some de
gree, to protect the cones against the winds.
The boat ways through the fences are closed
by twisted withes of willow twigs, which, pass
ing through the ends of the beds, join them
closely together.
Abundance of fruit grows wild in Kashmir,
and many thousands of acres, skirting the
foot of the hills, are covered with apple and
pear trees, and vines in full bearing; they
are also cultivated, as are apricots, peaches,
cherries, and plums. An article of horticul
tural cultivation is the walnut, of which there
are four varieties ; one called khanak, is wild,
the other three, termed wantu, dunu, and
kaghazi, are cultivated. The forest walnut
is diminutive, with a thick shell and scanty
kernel. The wantu has a larger nut, but the
shell is thick and very hard, and the kernel
deficient. The nut of the dunu is somewhat
larger still, its shell thick, but in a less de
gree, and the kernel, large and good, is easily
extracted. The kaghazi is so called from its
shell being nearly as thin as paper (kaghaz),
VOL. II. L

146 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
so that it may be readily broken by the hand ;
it is the largest of the whole, and its kernel is
large and easily extracted. Its superiority is
said to be attributable to its having been
originally engrafted : however this may be, it
is now raised from seed alone, and does not
degenerate. The nuts steeped in water for
eight days are planted in the beginning of
March, and the shoot generally makes its ap
pearance in about forty days. If reared by
grafts, the process is performed when the
plant is five years old : the head being cut off
horizontally, at a convenient height, is par
tially slit or opened in its circumference, and
the scions are inserted into the slits without
any binding ; but clay mortar, worked up
with rice husks, is put round it, ahd kept
from being washed away by being enveloped
in broad slips of birch bark.
In Kashmir the walnut tree begins to fruit
ordinarily when seven years old, but two or
three years more elapse before it is in full
bearing. This is conceived to be the case,
when on a single tree the averaged annual
number of nuts brought to maturity amounts
to about twenty-five thousand. It has been

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 147
observed, that after a few seasons of full bear
ing, walnut trees fall off in producing fruit,
and run with great luxuriance to leaf and
branch. To this latter condition the Kash
miris apply the appellation of must, and to
remedy it, cut down all the small branches,
bringing the tree to the state of a pollard.
During the year following shoots and leaves
alone are produced, which are succeeded by
a crop of fruit, in that ensuing, so abundant,
as tb compensate for the absence of nuts in
the preceding season. The cut ends of the
branches swell into knots, or knobs, which
are somewhat unsightly, and of which the
structure has not been accurately examined.
The walnuts which fall whilst green fur
nish the material for a colour of this tint,
which, however, is not permanent ; but the
husks of the ripe fruit are sold to the dyers,
as a basis for a fixed black. When ripe, the
fruit of the wantu walnut is retailed in the
city for eating, at the rate of a hundred for
two pice, or about a penny ; the nuts of the
dunu in the same number, for three pice,
and of the kaghazi for four pice, or two
pence. l2

148 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
The country people break the walnuts at
home, and carry the kernel alone to market,
where it is sold to oil-pressers, at the average
of seven rupees per kharwar, or ass load.
Each ass load of kernel yields eight paji of
oil, each weighing six ser, or forty-eight sers
in the whole. The paji sells from a rupee
to a rupee and a half, and the kajji, or oil
cake, produced in equal weight, or eight
paji, is worth eight anas in spring, or one
rupee per kharwar, and double this price in
winter, for feeding cows. In the latter season,
a kharwar of oil cake is exchanged for the
same quantity of coarse rice in the husk, or
the price of the latter in the market. About
twelve thousand ass loads of walnut kernels
are annually appropriated to the oil-press in
Kashmir, producing, in the gross return of oil
and of oil cake, one hundred and thirteen
thousand rupees, independently of the quan
tity of nuts eaten by man. Walnut oil is
preferred to linseed oil for all the uses to
which the latter is applied, and in Kashmir,
as on the continent of Europe, it is employed
in cookery, and also for burning in lamps,
neither much clogging the wick, nor yielding

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 149
much smoke : it is, however, inferior, both
for cooking and for burning to the oil of til
(Sesamum). This oil possesses such qualities
as fairly entitle it to introduction into Europe,
and if divested of its mucilage, it might,
perhaps, compete with oil of olives, at least
for medicinal purposes, and could be raised
in any quantity in the British Indian pro
vinces. It is sufficiently free from smell to
admit of being made the medium for extract
ing the perfume of the jasmin (Yasmin), the
tuberose (Zambak), narcissus (Nerghiz), cha
momile (Babena), and of the yellow rose
(Zeba). The process is managed by adding
one weight of flowers to three weights of oil
in a bottle, which being corked, is exposed to
the rays of the sun for forty days, when the
oil is supposed to be sufficiently impregnated
for use. Walnut oil is exported to Tibet, and
brings a considerable profit. By ancient cus
tom the crop of nuts was equally divided
between the Government and the owner of the
tree, but at present the former takes three-
fourths, leaving but one-fourth to remunerate
the farmer ; yet under this oppression the
cultivation of the walnut is extended, and

150 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Kashmir, in proportion to its surface, pro
duces a much larger quantity of nuts than
any portion of Europe.
There are said to be eighteen or twenty
varieties of grapes in Kashmir, of which four
only are of foreign introduction. These are
the Sahibi, of an oblong shape and red colour;
the Maska, round, and yellowish-white ; the
Hoseini, of the same colour, but long ; and the
Kishmish, yellowish-white or green, round,
and seedless : this last is small, but the other
three are large, the Sahibi sometimes mea
suring four inches in its largest circumfer
ence : they are all thin-skinned, and grow in
considerable bunches ; those of the Maska are
not unfrequently of the weight of five or six
pounds. The Sahibi and Maska are both
fine table grapes : wine and raisins might be
made from the other two. These sorts are
usually cultivated on high horizontal trellises
of wood.
The indigenous vines are generally planted
at the foot of a poplar, and run up to the
height of fifty or sixty feet, bearing abund
ance of fruit. The grapes are commonly
thick-skinned, and rather rough and astrin-

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 151
gent, but juicy. They are gathered latbout
October, and are kept through the winter in
shallow earthen vessels till the spring, when
they are applied to the fabrication of wine,
vinegar, and brandy. The making of wine
was discountenanced under the Afghan go
vernment, but has revived under that of the
Sikhs. The manufacture is ill conducted,
and the liquor is kept in bottles, which are
stopped only with plugs of wood, or twisted
bark, or paper. No wonder, therefore, that
the beverage is indifferent ; but such as it is,
it is sufficiently good to show, that with pro
per treatment and care, the wines of Kashmir
might be made to rival many of those of
Europe. The Sanjit, which has been noticed as
growing in Ladakh, is still more plentiful in
Kashmir. The tree has a beautiful appear
ance ; its flowers are exquisitely sweet, and
its fruit by distillation yields a beverage
which the Chinese hold to be not inferior to
that of the grape. The horse-chesnut is wild
in the forests, and has not been reclaimed.
The hazel is abundant, but it is so luxuriant
in the production of wood and leaf, that the

152 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
nuts, scarcely of the size of peas, do not come
to perfection. The alder is of rapid growth,
and the shoots, when the head happens to be
destroyed, are straight, tall, and free from
knots. The most valuable tree of Kashmir
is, however, the Deodar, a variety of cedar,
the timber of which is extensively employed
in the construction of houses, temples, and
bridges : pieces of it from the Zein-ul-kadal
bridge were found little decayed, although ex
posed to the action of water for four hundred
years. The crocus of Kashmir has long been cele
brated for the excellence of its saffron. It
produces freely the third year after being
planted : the greater part is exported to Hin
dustan. Amongst other useful plants occur
the Alisma plantago, and the Carthamus tinc-
torius. The animals and birds of Kashmir are
much the same as those of Hindustan. The
horses are small and indifferent ; sheep are
plentiful, and the mutton is well flavoured ;
the fat is particularly white. Whether this
is owing to any peculiarity in their feed,
I shall not undertake to determine ; but

CH. II.]. AND PESHAWAR. 153
although it would be very possible to prepare
an ample sufficiency of hay for winter fodder,
the preference is given to the leaves of certain
trees, — as the walnut, willow, mulberry, elm,
and several others, which are considered much
more warming and nutritious than hay, espe
cially for sheep. Small branches after hav
ing been cut when in full leaf are immediately
so disposed within the first forks of the tree
ito which they belong, as to be thereby re
tained ; and although loosely piled, yet in
consequence of being entangled amongst
themselves, are not detached by the wind;
neither do they lose their leaves, nor are the
latter in any respect injured. This forage is
reserved for the severe part of the winter,
when the cattle are driven under the trees in
which the store is suspended, and the dry
branches being pulled down, the leaves are
eaten by them with great avidity.
When grass is stored for winter fodder, it
is twisted into thick ropes immediately after
having been cut, and in this state hung across
the upper branches of trees, without other
preparation, for hay; it thus keeps free from
rottenness, and generally even from mouldi-

154 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
ness, notwithstanding the great quantity of
rain and snow that falls. Grass thus dried is
generally given to the cattle in the morning,
and leaves in the afternoon and evening : oil
cake made of linseed, walnut kernels, mustard
seed, along with the seed of cotton, are given
to fatten cattle, as are flags or the leaves of
sedge. The prangos, which likewise grows
in Kashmir, is also largely used as winter
fodder. The cotton plant grows in Kashmir in every
variety of situation : it is seldom much above
two feet high, and if taller, is said to yield an
inferior article. It is sown in May, and the
cotton is gathered in September and October.
The cloths made from it are in general coarse
and flimsy ; but one kind, called kadak, is of
a texture particularly close, though not fine,
and of exceeding durability. The manufac
ture of cotton cloths, however, is not very ex
tensively prosecuted in Kashmir, and the cul
tivation of the plant is consequently not
much attended to. An attempt was made to
introduce the nankin or brown cotton from
Yarkand into Kashmir, but it was said that
although the first growth was of as deep a

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 155
tint as that of the Yarkand plant, yet the
produce of the third sowing was white.
It was mentioned that silk was extensively
raised in Khoten, and it appears that it ex
tends from thence through Yarkand and Balti
to Kashmir. In this latter country the fabric
languishes, and the quantity produced is in
sufficient for domestic consumption. It might
with due encouragement be carried to any
extent. About a thousand ass loads of the root of
the kuth, or costus, collected in the mountains
of Kashmir, are annually exported to Am-
ritser, whence the drug is sent to Calcutta
for export to China. For what purpose the
Chinese use it is not known ; but in the north
of Hindustan it is celebrated as a vermifuge,
being administered to children in an infusion
of the powdered root : it is also used as a to
pical application in chronic rheumatism.
An interesting subject in the rural economy
of Kashmir is the management of Bees.
Every farmer in the district of Lar, and I
have since found the practice general through
out the whole country, in the eastern part of
Kashmir, has several hives in his house, and

156 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
in some houses I have counted as many as
ten. A provision for hives is made in building
the house, by leaving appropriate cavities in
the walls. These somewhat differ in size, but
agree in their general form, each being cylin
drical, and extending quite through the wall.
This tube is lined by a plastering of clay-
mortar, about an inch in thickness, and the
mortar is worked up with the chaff or husk
of rice, or with the down of thistles, which
latter is employed also for clay-mortar in
general, being the first application of this
substance to the use of man I have yet wit
nessed. The dimensions of a hive are, on an average,
about fourteen inches in diameter, and, when
closed at both ends, about twenty or twenty-
two inches in length. The walls of farm
houses and cottages differ in respect to their
materials, but are commonly constructed of
rough stones, or bricks, and of clay or lime-
mortar along with a large admixture of wood,
in the district just mentioned. That end of
the cylinder nearest to the apartment is closed
by a round platter of red pottery ware, a little

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 157
convex in the middle, but the edges are made
flush with the wall by a luting of clay-mortar,
and the other extremity is shut by a similar
dish, having a circular hole, about a third of
an inch in diameter, in its centre.
It does not appear that there is any parr
ticular rule for the height of the hives from
the ground, they sometimes being confined to
the walls of the lower or basement story, ge
nerally appropriated to cattle in the farm
houses of Kashmir, at others are inserted into
those of the first-floor, but are frequently seen
in both situations in the same house, as well
as in the walls of its out-buildings. So little
of difference exists betwixt the practices or
dinarily pursued in Kashmir and in Europe,
in respect to hiving new swarms, as not to call
for notice ; but that adopted in the former
country, for preserving the old swarm when
the honey is taken, well deserves imitation by
the bee-farmer in the latter country. The
process by which this is, as I witnessed it,
effected, is the following : — Having in readi
ness a wisp of dry rice-straw, and a small
quantity of burning charcoal in an earthen
dish, the master of the house, with a few

158 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
strokes of the point of a short sickle, disen
gages the inner platter of the tube, bringing
into view the combs suspended from the roof
of the hive, and almost wholly covered with
bees, none of which, however, offer to resent
the aggression, or to enter the room. Having
placed the straw upon the charcoal, and hold
ing the dish close to the mouth of the hive, he
blew the smoke strongly against the combs,
but removed the straw the instant it took fire,
to prevent it burning the bees, and quenched
the flame before he employed it again.
Almost stifled by the smoke, the bees hur
ried through the outer door with such rapidity
that the hive was cleared of its inhabitants
within a few minutes, when the farmer intro
ducing the sickle, cut down the combs nearest
to him, which were received into a dish pre-
viously slidden underneath them, and left un
disturbed about one-third ofthe combs, which
were almost close to the outer door. He then
replaced the inner platter, and brushing off has
tily a few bees which clung to the combs, tho ugh
apparently in a state of stupefaction, threw
them out of the house. Observing many other
bees lying motionless on the floor ofthe hive,

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 159
I inquired whether they were dead, or only
stupified, and was answered, that they would
recover : however, I was not wholly satisfied
that this recovery would take place ; but pre
parations for continuing my journey at a very
early hour on the following morning un
luckily prevented me from ascertaining the
fact. But neither the fate of these, nor of those
left senseless in the hive, excited any interest
in the owner, as enough remained to carry on
the business of the hive, into which the ex
pelled bees returned as soon as its cavity was
freed from smoke, without stinging a single
individual. The whole business was com
pleted within ten minutes, and it was asserted
that not above one-hundredth part of the
community is destroyed by this method.
The farmers here are well acquainted with the
existence of the queen bee; but give them
selves little trouble about the internal economy
of the hive. Accounts differed as to the
weight of the annual yield of a hive, and to
the relative proportions of honey and of wax,
and . that now taken afforded no evidence on
these points, as its combs had been removed,

160 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
in part only, two months before. Altogether,
however, it seemed to me probable that the
produce was less than the ordinary yield of a
good swarm in England, making allowance
also for the portion left for the winter support
of the bees. The honey was light-coloured,
and of a taste as pure and as sweet as that of
Narbonne. It possessed less of the cloying
quality generally attending this substance
than any other I recollect to have met with,
and I could not learn that the farmers had
any suspicion of their honey ever being in
toxicating or poisonous, as has been noticed as
the case occasionally with that made by the
Bhoura of Garwahl. I was directed more par
ticularly to inquiry upon this subject by hav
ing observed monk's-hood in flower in the
valley of Ranga, a few miles to the eastward
of the bee-district, and think it probable that
it extends to these mountains. Perhaps, how
ever, the range of the flight of the domesti
cated bee, through the abundance of food,
may be limited to the cultivated surface im
mediately in the vicinity ofthe house ; whereas
the Bhoura is compelled to take a more ex
tensive range, and in the scarcity of food,

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR 161
during the short summer, to be less select in
regard to its quality. The peasantry of Kash
mir are unacquainted with the employment of
honey as the basis of a fermented liquor, but
eat it raw, or mixed with various articles of
common food, whilst the most wealthy sub
stitute it for sugar in preserving fruits. It is
customary to take the hive every year, and
the end of September, or beginning of Octo
ber, is found the best season for this operation,
a little time still remaining for the bees to add
to the portion left for their support during five
months. This amounts to about a third of
the whole produce, and would appear to suf
fice, as swarms seldom die, and the Kash-
mirians substitute no other material as food.
It is stated that an old swarm yields more
honey than a young one, and that families
seldom die except of old age. I was informed,
that it was no uncommon circumstance to pre
serve the same community for ten, or even for
fifteen years ; and some instances were quo
ted of a family having been retained for twenty
years ; but this was held to be of very rare
occurrence. VOL. II. M

162 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
In consequence of the bees being thus
literally domiciliated, they acquire a mildness
of conduct far more decided than those of
Europe, by which the lives of many of these
insects are saved annually ; and the confidence
gained subduing their natural irascibility, may
generate an increase of industry, or at least
an increase of produce, in relation to the
number, and to the size of the individuals of
each community. And it is clear that the
situation of the hive keeps many of the natu
ral enemies of the bee at a distance. The bee
of Kashmir is a little smaller than that of
Europe, though a little larger than the do
mesticated bee of Kamaon and of Garwhal.
Honey sells at about threepence British a
pound, but wax is considerably dearer.
The mineral productions of Kashmir have
been too little investigated to admit of very
exact specification. Iron is found in consider
able quantity ; but that used for the fabric of
gun-barrels is said to be imported from the
Pan jab — a circumstance rather questionable.
Copper-mines are said to exist, but their ex
istence is kept secret, lest they should become

CH. II.] AND PESHAWAR. 163
to the government an additional subject of
exaction : the copper used is British or Rus
sian, imported from Lahore or Yarkand. No
lead-mines are worked, if they exist. Sul
phur is an article of import from the Panjab.

m 2

164 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.

CHAPTER III.
Arts and Manufactures of Kashmir — Shawl Manufacture — Wool
— Carriage — Mode of Sale — Prices of Wool — Sorting — Clean
ing — Phiri, or Seconds Wool — Spinning — Yarn — Prices —
Assortment according to Pattern — Dyeing — Apportioning —
Dressing — Silk used for Borders — Drawing — Weaving — Rates
of Work — Loom — Pattern — Needles — Shawl- Cloth — Cleaning
Shawls — Darning — Stamping — Valuation — Washing — Drying
— Packing — Articles of Shawl-Stuff — Worked Shawls — List
of Articles and Prices — Total annual Value of Manufacture —
Gun-barrels — Yerak Leather — Pen-cases — Paintings — Paper.
The manufacture for which Kashmir is cele
brated throughout the world, is that of the
light, warm, and elegant article of dress which,
from its native appellation, is known as shawl.
Conceiving that it would be possible for Great
Britain to partake more largely in the trade
in shawl-goods, a very valuable portion of
which is carried on through Bokhara and
Yarkand with Russia, or even that it would
be practicable to introduce the manufacture

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 165
itself into my native country, I devoted much
of my time and thoughts, whilst in Kashmir,
to the acquisition of authentic information on
every detail connected with the subject*.
The chief results of my inquiries I shall pro
ceed to describe.
The wool that is employed in this manu
facture is of two kinds — the fleece of the
domestic goat, called Pashm Shal (or shawl-
wool), and that of the wild goat, wild sheep,
and other animals named Asali Tus. The
wool of sheep is not regularly, but is some
times clandestinely imported, being loaded
with the same heavy duties as that of the
goat. The quantity of shawl-wool annually im
ported varies between five hundred and one
thousand horse-loads, each of which is equal
to nearly 300 lbs. : the whole quantity of the
* The creation of the manufacture of British shawls is no doubt
to be ascribed, in a great degree, if not solely, to Mr. Moorcroft.
From the period of his first journey to the Hiundes he was at
great pains in sending home the shawl-wool, and in his present
journey he sent, to England patterns of shawls, and information
regarding their manufacture, which, though addressed mostly to
his private friends, found their way silently to persons engaged in
similar manufactures, and enabled them to imitate successfully the
shawls of Kashmir. — Ed.

166 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Asali Tus does not exceed 1200 lbs. The
wool was formerly supplied almost exclusively
by the western provinces of Lassa and by La
dakh ; but of late considerable quantities have
been procured from the neighbourhood of
Yarkand, from Khoten, and the families of
the Great Kirghis horde. It is brought chiefly
by Mogol merchants, who exchange it for
manufactured shawl-goods in Kashmir, which
they dispose of advantageously in Russia.
The expense of transport from Le to Kash
mir is, per horse-load, thirty-three rupees ; the
duties collected at various places, both in La
dakh and Kashmir, amount to ninety-five ru
pees. A deduction is made for the admixture
of dark-coloured wool, which every load con
tains usually in the proportion of one-third,
although the custom-house calculation is but
one-fifth. Dark wool pays about half the
duty charged on white wool. Asali Tus pays
double. In the first disposal of the article the parties
engaged are the Bakal, or merchant importer,
the Pashm farosh, or wool-retailer, and a Mo-
kim, or broker. In Kashmir all commercial
contracts of importance are discussed at din-

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 167
ner, and accordingly, when the merchant
receives a cargo of wool, he invites a retail
dealer and his broker to a feast. The latter
mediates between the parties, and receives a
commission of three anas per tarak. From
each horse-load of the wool three and three-
quarter sers are deducted for the weight
of the bales, &c. Payment is immediate, or
at one or two months' credit, according to the
state of the market, but in no case is it de
layed beyond that term. At the time of pay
ment the purchaser withholds two anas per
tarak, as a fund for an entertainment to be
given to the merchant, and for gratuities to
his servants.
The price of shawl-wool has for some time
past been upon the advance: the following
were the average prices at different periods :
1794 to 1807, per Tarak, 8 Kashmir Rupees.
1807 „ 1813, „ 16 to 20
1813 „ 1817, „ 22
1817 „ 25
It had latterly been as high as forty rupees
per tarak, owing partly to the ravages made
by an epidemic disease amongst the cattle,
and partly to the new demand arising for
wool from the British possessions in India.

168 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
This enhanced price, however, can be but of
temporary duration, new sources of supply
being opened, the consumption of the raw
material diminishing under the exactions ofthe
Sikh government, and the value of the manu
factured article in foreign markets declining.
The price of dark-coloured wool is about
one-third, or a half less than that of white
wool. The wool exposed for retail by the pur
chaser is bought by women for the purpose
of spinning it into yarn. A pal of white wool
sells for six tangas, or about as many pence.
The profit of the retailer is about twelve per
cent. The first task of the spinner is to separate
the different materials of which the fleece con
sists, usually in about the following propor
tions :—

Coarse Hair

l£ Sers,

Seconds, or Phiri

0|

Dust and Foreign Substances

n

Fine Wool

2

6 Sers, or 1 Tarak.
Much attention is required to free the wool
from the hair, and the process is a tedious one.
The next step is cleaning and separating

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 169
the wool. A quantity of husked rice is steeped
in clean cold water, for a day and a night, or
longer, until it becomes soft, when it is ground
or bruised upon a stone slab to fine flour.
Thin layers of this and of the picked wool are
laid alternately, and squeezed with the hand
until they are completely intermixed. A little
water may be occasionally sprinkled over the
heap, if the weather is hot and dry, else it is
not necessary. Soap is never used, as it
makes the wool harsh ; and its employment in
Hindustan being communicated to the Kash-
mirians, induced them to boast that in this
matter, at least, they were more knowing than
Europeans. After being thus treated for
about an hour, the flour is shaken out, the
wool opened and torn to pieces, chiefly by
the nails, and made into somewhat square,
thin, elastic pads, called Tumbu. In this pro
cess the Phiri, or seconds-wool, is extricated.
Though too coarse for fine shawls, it is used
in the manufacture of those of inferior qua
lity, and of a strong shawl-cloth called Patu.
The tumbu is then worked out into a thin
flat roving, about half a yard long, which is
called a Mala. . The mala, is folded up to the

170 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
size of the tumbu, and deposited in a deep
pot of red earthenware, called a Taskas, to
be out of the way of dust or accident, till re
quired for the spinning-wheel.
The wheel is constructed on the same prin
ciple as that used in Hindustan, but varying
in neatness of form and finish, according to
its price ; the rudest, the Takhtidar, or Pa-
chimdar, costs a half-rupee, the Katzker,
which is the most serviceable, three or four
rupees, and the Pakhchedar, which is used
by those who spin for amusement only, costs
from six to sixteen rupees. The iron spindle
is enclosed in a cylindrical tube of straw or
reed-grass, and runs through two elastic twists
of grass, and instead of one line of radii or
spokes, supporting a continued circular wooden
rim, there are two circular and parallel walls
of flat spokes in contact at their edges, leav
ing between them, at their outer circumfer
ence, an empty space. A hair cord, fastened
to the loose end of one of the spokes, is car
ried across the space or trough, to the end of
the next spoke but one on the opposite side,
and having been passed round, it returns to a
spoke on the side from which it began. By a

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 171
continuation of this process a rim is formed
of a surface of hair-cord, over which runs a
small band that is said seldom to be cut by
the friction to which it is exposed. The prin
ciple kept in view by this arrangement of
spindle and of rim, is to produce a continu
ance of soft elastic movements without jerk
or stiffness, to prevent the yarn breaking on
the occurrence of any slight interruption in
drawing it out.
Women begin to work at daybreak, con
tinue with little interruption the whole day, if
not taken off by other domestic affairs, and
extend their labour until very late in the
night, spinning by moonlight, when available,
and when they cannot afford to purchase oil
for a lamp. The fine wool is spun commonly
into about seven hundred gaz, each gaz con
sisting of sixteen girahs, about equal to nails.
This yarn is doubled and formed into twist,
which is cut into two hundred lengths, each
length of three gaz and a half, this measure
being suited to the length of the warp for a
shawl. From the phiri, or seconds-wool,
about one hundred gaz of yarn are also pro-

172 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
diiced. The yarn of the fine wool is sold some
times by measure and sometimes by weight. A
hundred lengths of yarn of fine wool doubled,
and each three gaz and a half, bring ordina
rily seven tangas, or about sevenpence. But
if the same kind of yarn be sold without being
doubled and twisted, the price is regulated by
weight, a pal bringing from twelve anas to
one rupee four anas, according to the de
mands of the market. The yarn from phiri,
or seconds- wool, is sold only by measure, but
the gaz employed consists of no more than
twelve girah, or nails, that is, of four girahs
less than the gaz in ordinary use. A hun
dred yards of phiri twist, and each of two
short gaz, or of twenty-four girah, sell for one
and a half tanga three pice, or about three-
halfpence. Although calculations upon this
matter can belittle more than approximations,
yet threepence or threepence-halfpenny a
day, or from three rupees to three rupees
eight anas, or from six to seven shillings a
month, may be taken as the general earnings
of an industrious and expert spinner in Kash
mir, out of which, however, must be subtracted

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 173
the price of the wool *, leaving only one rupee
eight anas for her labour.
If shawl-wool be furnished to a spinner to
clean and to spin, eight anas are paid for
spinning one pal, or three and one-third ru
pees' weight of yarn of the requisite quality for
shawls. Sheep's wool, spun by contract, is
paid for by the pao, or quarter of a ser, at the
rate of from two tangas, or four pice, to twelve
anas per pao, according to the fineness of the
yarn ; and the spinning of this quantity into
yarn suited for shawls will occupy a woman
for eight days. There are several varieties of
thread, distinguished by different degrees of
fineness. From one pal of clean fine shawl-
wool a spinner will draw from a hundred to a
thousand threads of three and a half gaz each.
There is not such a difference between the
price of coarse and of fine yarn as might be
expected, owing to the greater expenditure on
the former of a material that is dear, and on
the latter, of labour that is cheap. Shawl-
wool is sometimes spun by men with a loose
spindle like that used in Ladakh. These
men are called Trakhans, and the yarn thus
* Thirty-two Tangas or Anas equal two Rupees.

174 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
spun is the finest ; but very little of it is now
made. Girls begin to spin at the age of ten,
and a hundred thousand females are employed
in this occupation in Kashmir. About one-
tenth of this number are supposed to spin for
the purpose of obtaining shawls for them
selves, or for other members of their families,
and nine-tenths to earn their livelihood.
The Puimangu keeps a shop for the pur
chase of yarn, but also sends people to collect
it from the houses of the spinners, who give
notice of their approach by ringing a bell.
The yarn is sold to the weavers at a profit of
from one pice to a tanga in the rupee. As a
large stamp-duty is levied on shawl-goods
when finished, the exportation of the yarn is
forbidden, and the prohibition is enforced by
heavy fine and imprisonment. Much of it is,
nevertheless, exported to those places in the
Panjab where the expatriated weavers have
settled. Having ascertained the kind of pattern
most likely to suit the market, the weaver ap
plies to persons whose business it is to appor
tion the yarn according to the colours required';
and when this is settled, he takes it to ano-

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 175
ther, whose function it is to divide the yarn
into skeins accordingly, and each skein is de
livered to the rang rez, or dyer. When the
body of the cloth is to be left plain, the phiri,
or seconds-yarn, is alone given to be dyed.
This is generally about the thickness of com
mon cotton sewing-thread, is loosely twisted,
of a coarser quality than the yarn used for the
cloth, and is preferred for employment in
flowers, or other ornaments, from its standing
higher, and being, as it were, embossed upon
the ground.
The dyer prepares the yarn by steeping in
clean cold water. He professes to be able to
give it sixty-four tints, most of which are per
manent. Each has a separate denomination ;
as for instance, the crimson is termed Gul-
anar (pomegranate-flower) ; the best kind is
derived from cochineal, imported from Hin
dustan ; inferior tints are from Lacand Kirmis
(Chermes), distinguished as Kirmisi, Kirm-
dana, and Kirmisi lac, or cochineal and lac
chermes ; logwood is used for other red dyes ;
blues and greens are dyed with indigo, or
colouring matter extracted by boiling from
European broad-cloth. Logwood is imported

176 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
from Multan, and indigo from India. Car-
thamus and saffron, growing in the province,
furnish means of various tints of orange, yel
low, &c. The occupation of a dyer is inva
riably hereditary. The whiter and finer the
fibre of the wool, and the finer the yarn into
which it is made, the more capable it is said
to be of receiving a brilliant dye ; and this is
one reason why the fine white wool of the
goat is preferred to that of the sheep.
The Nakatu adjusts the yarn for the warp
and for the weft. That intended for the for
mer is double, and is cut into lengths of three
gaz and a half, anything short of that mea
sure being considered fraudulent. The num
ber of these lengths varies from two thousand
to three thousand, according to the closeness
or openness of texture proposed, and the fine
ness or coarseness of the yarn.
The weft is made of yarn which is single,
but a little thicker than the double yarn or
twist of the warp. The weight of the weft is
estimated at a half more than that of the
warp. The nakatu receives the yarn in hanks,
but returns it in balls : he can prepare in one
day the warp and weft for two shawls.

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 177
The Pennakam guru, or warp-dresser, takes
from the weaver the yarn which has been cut
and reeled, and stretching the lengths by
means of sticks into a band, of which the
threads are slightly separate, dresses the
whole by dipping it into thick-boiled rice-
water. After this the skein is slightly squeezed,
and again stretched into a band, wliich is
brushed and suffered to dry : by this process
each length becomes stiffened, and set apart
from the rest.
Silk is generally used for the warp on the
border of the shawl, and has the advantage
of showing the darker colours of the dyed
wool more prominently than a warp of yarn,
as well as hardening and strengthening, and
giving more body to the edge of the cloth.
When the border is very narrow it is woven
with the body of the shawl; but when broader,
it is worked on a different loom, and after
wards sewn on the edge of the shawl by the
rafugar, or fine-drawer, with such nicety, that
the union can scarcely be detected. The
silk is twisted for the border warp by the
tabgar. The warp differs in breadth, the
narrowest consisting of twenty, and the
VOL. II. N

178 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
broadest of a hundred threads. From the
tabgar the silk is handed to the alakaband,
who reels it, and cuts it into the proper
lengths. The operation of drawing, or of passing
the yarns of the warp through the heddles,
is performed precisely in the same way as in
Europe, and the warp is then taken by
the shal-baf, or weaver, to the loom. The
weavers are all males, commencing to learn
the art at the age of ten years. In all trans
actions there are two parties, the master, or
ustad, and the scholar, or shahgird, the for
mer being the capitalist, the latter the me
chanic. Work is executed under four dif
ferent conditions. First, for wages, when it
almost always happens that a system of ad
vances has occurred, by which the workman
is so deeply indebted to his employer that he
may, in some sort, be considered as his bond
slave. Secondly, upon contract, of which
the common term is, that one pice is paid
for every hundred needles carrying coloured
yarn that shall have been each once passed
round as many yarns of the warp. Third, a
sort of partnership, in which the ustad finds

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 179
all the materials, and the workmen give their
labour. When a shawl is sold the outlay of
the ustad is deducted from the price, and
the remainder is divided into five shares, of
which one goes to the master, and the other
four to the workmen. The fourth mode is
an equal division of the proceeds ; in which
case the master not only finds the materials,
but feeds the workmen. Three men are em
ployed upon an embroidered shawl of an
ordinary pattern for three months, but a very
rich pair will occupy a shop for eighteen
months. The loom differs not in principle from
that of Europe, but is of inferior workman
ship. An ustad has from three to three
hundred in his establishment, and they are
generally crowded together in long low
apartments. When the warp is fixed in
the loom the nakash, or pattern-drawer, and
the tarah-guru, and talim-guru, or persons
who determine the proportion of yarn of
different colours to be employed, are again
consulted. The first brings the drawing of
the pattern in black and white. The tarah-
guru, having well considered it, points out
N 2

180 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
the disposition of the colours, beginning at
the foot of the pattern, and calling out the
colour, the number of threads to which it is
to extend, that by wliich it is to be fol
lowed, and so on in succession, until the
whole pattern has been described. From his
dictation the talim-guru writes down the
particulars in a kind of character or short
hand, and delivers a copy of the document to
the weavers.
The workmen prepare the tujis, or needles,
by arming each with coloured yarn of the
weight of about four grains. These needles,
without eyes, are made of light, smooth
wood, and have both their sharp ends
slightly charred, to prevent their becoming
rough or jagged through working. Under
the superintendence of the tarah-guru, the
weavers knot the yarn of the tuji to the
warp. The face, or right side of the cloth,
is placed next to the ground, the work being
carried on at the back or reverse, on which
hang the needles in a row, and differing in
number from four hundred to fifteen hun
dred, according to the lightness or heaviness
of the embroidery. As soon as the ustad is

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 181
satisfied that the work of one line or woof is
completed, the comb is brought down upon it
with a vigour and repetition, apparently very
disproportionate to the delicacy of the ma
terials. The cloth of shawls, generally, is of- two
kinds, one plain, or of two threads, one
twilled, or of four. The former was, in past
times, wrought to a great degree of fineness,
but it has been, of late, less in demand.
The various twilled cloths are usually from
five to twelve girehs, or nails, wide. Shawls
are twilled, and are commonly about twenty-
four nails broad, and differ in their extent of
field. Two persons are employed in weav
ing a cloth of this breadth. One throws the
shuttle from the edge as far as he can across
the warp, which is usually about half way.
It is there seized by the second weaver, who
throws it onwards to the opposite edge, and
then returns it to his companion, who, in his
turn, introducing his fingers into the warp,
forwards the shuttle to the edge whence it
started, and then recommences the operation.
The cloth thus made is frequently irregular,
the threads of some parts of the woof being

182 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
driven up tightly, and in others left open,
from which results a succession of bands,
sufficiently distinguishable whilst without
colour, but still more obvious when dyed.
The open texture is, in a degree, remediable
by the introduction of fresh threads; but
there is no sufficient cure for that which has
been much compacted. One might be led
to suspect that there existed some radical
defectiveness in the principle of this mode
of weaving not readily mastered, were not
pieces of cloth found occasionally of an
almost perfect regularity of texture. But
the greatest irregularity is discoverable in
those shawls which have the deepest and
heaviest borders, and a further examination
compels me to retract an observation some
where made of the artist being so much en
grossed by attention to the work of the pat
tern as to neglect the structure of the field.
The edge of the warp in the loom is filled
with the heavy thread of the phiri, or se
conds-yarn, charged also with colour, so that
in a few lines the front of the worked part
advances beyond that of the plain part or
field, and an endeavour to equalize this be-

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 183
trays the weaver into a work which proves
fruitless ; and, in general, the heavier the
embroidery on the border, and, of course,
the higher the price of the shawl, the less
regular is the structure of the cloth. Such,
indeed, in some instances, is the degradation
of the cloth in the field, as to induce some
foreign merchants to cause it to be removed,
and another piece to be engrafted within the
eds:e of the border. But in this case there is
no other remedy than in a judicious selection
of a sheet of the same breadth and fineness ;
for, although two breadths of the narrow
cloth might fit the vacant space, yet
these must be joined by the rafugar in the
middle ; and although this can be so done
that the band differs not in thickness from
the rest of the cloth, yet the joint is discern
ible when held between the eye and the
light, from the threads in the joined breadth
being not continuous in the same line ; where
as any irregularity of this nature is drowned
in the edge of the border. The best practice
to ensure a good field seems to consist in
weaving the border, in every case, sepa
rately, and inserting the field by the rafugar.

184 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
When finished, the shawls are submitted to
the purusgar, or cleaner, whose business it is
to free the shawl from discoloured hairs or
yarn, and from ends or knots : he either pulls
them out severally with a pair of tweezers, or
shaves the reverse face of the cloth with a
sharp knife : any defects arising from either
operation are immediately repaired by the
rafugar. At this stage of the manufacture
the shawls are sent to the collector of the
stamp-duties, by whom an ad valorem duty
of twenty-six per cent, is levied, and each
piece is then stamped and registered.
The goods are now handed over to the wa-
farosh, or person who has advanced money
on them to the manufacturer, and to the moh-
kim, or broker, and these two settle the price,
and effect the sale to the merchant ; the
former charges interest on his advances, the
latter a commission, varying from two to five
per cent. The purchaser takes the goods
unwashed, and often in pieces, and the fine-
drawer and washerman have still to do their
part. When partly washed the dhobi brings the
shawls to the merchant, that they may be ex-

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 185
amined for any holes or imperfections: should
such occur, they are remedied at the expense
of the seller : if there are none, the washing
is completed. This is done with clear cold
water, using soap very cautiously to white
parts alone, and never to embroidery: co
loured shawls are dried in the shade ; white
ones are bleached in the open air, and their
colour is improved by exposure to fumes of
sulphur. After being washed, the shawls are
stretched in a manner which answers in some
degree to calendering : a wooden cylinder in
two parts is employed for this purpose, round
which the shawl, folded so as not to be quite
as broad as the cylinder is long, is carefully
wrapped, being occasionally damped to make
it fold tighter ; the end is sewn down : two
wedges are then gradually driven between
the two parts of the cylinder at the open ex
tremities, so as to force them asunder, and
the surrounding folds of the shawl are thus
stretched to as great an extent as is consist
ent, with its texture. The piece remains in
this state for two days, when it is removed to
be packed. The packages are of various di
mensions, but they are formed on one prin-

186 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
ciple : the shawls are separated by sheets of
smooth, glazed, and coloured paper, and they
are placed between two smooth planks of
wood, with exterior transverse bars, which
projecting beyond the planks, offer a pur
chase for cords to tie them together: the
whole is then placed in a press, or under
heavy weights for some days, when the planks
are withdrawn, and the bale is sewed up in
strong cloth : over this a cover of tus, or of
birch bark is laid, and an envelope of wax
cloth is added, and the whole is sewed up as
smoothly and lightly as possible in a raw
hide, which contracting in drying, gives to
the contents of the package a remarkable de
gree of compactness and protection.
An immense variety of articles of shawl
stuff are manufactured in Kashmir, besides
the shawls themselves : of them also there are
two chief varieties, those made in the manner
described, and the worked shawl (doshali
amli), in which the whole of the embroidery
is worked on the cloth, with needles having
eyes, and with a particular kind of woollen
thread, instead of the silk employed in the
usual embroidered work. In the amli shawl

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 187
the pattern, which is in every case delineated,
but which at the loom is read off in certain
technical terms from a book, is covered with
transparent paper, upon which the outlines of
the composition are slightly traced with a
charcoal twig, and the traced lines are perma
nently defined by being pricked through with
a small needle. The cloth intended to re
ceive the pattern is rubbed strongly upon a
smooth plank, with a piece of highly-polished
agate or cornelian, until it is perfectly even
and regular. The pricked pattern is then
stretched upon the cloth, and some fine co
loured powder, charcoal, or chalk, is passed
slightly over the paper, which penetrating
through the holes, transfers the outline to the
cloth underneath. This is next more accu
rately delineated with some coloured powder,
rendered tenacious by mucilage of gum ara
ble, which, when the work is completed, is
readily detached in dust by the hand.
The use of patterns by the chain-stitch
embroiderer, and the carpet weaver of Kash
mir, is more restricted to a confined number
of forms, by being transferred from a wooden

188 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
block to the cloth, in regard to the former,
and to paper in respect to the latter.
The following are the chief articles of this
manufacture, with their usual prices.
Shawls in pairs form the principal article of
this manufacture, and have different names,
according to their nature and quality, as plain
white, coloured, embroidered in the loom, or
by the hand with the needle : viz. : —
Patu Pashmini, sometimes made of Asal Wis, but more
frequently of the coarse kinds of shawl-wool, is in length
four gaz, and in breadth one and a half gaz. This is thick,
and used as a blanket, or for outer clothing. Price from
5 to 6 rupees per gaz.
Shala Phiri, as its name denotes, is made of phiri,'or of seconds-
wool. Its length is from three and a half to four gaz, and
breadth one and a half gaz. Price from 20 to 30 rupees per
piece.
Halwan, or plain white cloth, of fine shawl-wool, without
flower, border, or other ornament, differs in length, but is
twelve giras in breadth, and is used for turbans and for dye
ing. Price from 3 to 6 rupees per gaz.
Jowhar Shala Sadu, or shawl with a narrow edging of coloure
yarn, is from three and a half to three and three-quarters gaz
in length, and one and a half in breadth. Price from 50 to
60 rupees per piece.
As all the following shawls are of the same
dimensions, viz., three and a half gaz in length,
and one and a half gaz in breadth, it is un-

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 189
necessary to affix the measures to their several
names.
Shala Hashiadar, is edged by a single border. 60 to 70 ru
pees.
Shala Dohashiadar, has a double border. 40 to 70 rupees.
Shala Chahar Hashiadar, has four borders. 60 to 70 rupees.
Hashiadar Khosar, or Khalil khani, has two borders and two
tanga, sometimes with, at others without a flower in the cor
ners. 40 to 50 rupees.
Hashiadar Kiungridar. This has a border of the usual form
with another withinside, or nearer to the middle, resembling
the crest of the wall of Asiatic forts, furnished with narrow
niches or embrasures for wall pieces, or matchlocks, whence
its name. 100 to 150 rupees.
Dhourdar, has an ornament running all round the shawl, be
tween the border and the field. 200 to 2200 rupees per pair.
Mathandar, has flowers or decorations in the middle of the
field. 300 to 1800 rupees per pair.
Chand'dar, has a circular ornament or moon in the centre of
the field. 500 to 1 500 rupees per pair.
Choutahidar, has four half-moons. 300 to 1500 rupees per
pair.
Kunjbuthadar, has a group of flowers at each corner. 200 to
900 rupees per pair.
Alifdar, has green sprigs without any other colour, on a white
ground or field. 120 to 1150 rupees per pair.
Kaddar, has large groups of flowers somewhat in the form of
the cone of a pine, with the ends or points straight, or curved
downwards.
Dokaddar, has two heights of such groups ; Sekaddar three
rows ; and so on to five and upwards : in the latter case,
however, the cones are somewhat small. 100 to 800 rupees
per pair.

190 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [ PART III.
The ornaments of shawls are distinguished
by different names, as Pala, Hashia, Zan-
gir, Dhour, &c, and these are divided into
different parts. By the term Pala is meant
the whole of the embroidery at the two ends,
or, as they are technically called, the heads of
the shawl.
The Hashia, or border, is disposed commonly one at each side
in the whole length, and if double or triple, gives particular
denominations to the shawl.
The Zanjir, or chain, runs above and also below the principal
mass of the Pala, and as it were confines it.
The Dhour, or running ornament, is situated to the inside in
regard to the Hashia and the Zanjir, enveloping imme
diately the whole of the field.
The Kunjbutha, is a corner ornament, or clustering of flowers.
The Mattan, is the decorated part of the field or ground.
Butha, is the generic term for flower, but is specifically applied,
when used alone, to the large cone-like ornament which forms
the most prominent feature of the Pala. Sometimes there
is only one line of these ornaments, extending from the
lower Zanjir to the upper one. When there is a double
row, one above the other, the Butha is called Dokad, Sehkad,
up to five, after which it takes the name of Tukaddar.
Each Butha consists of three parts ; viz., the Pai, or foot or
pediment of leaves generally ; the Shikam, or belly, and the
Sir, or head. The head is either erect, or straight, or curved,
or inclined. If the Butha slope generally, it is named Bu
tha kaj. The Thai, or net, is the work which separates the
different Buthas, but sometimes the interstice is without or
nament.

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 191
Jamawar, signifies literally a gown-piece. The length of this
cloth is three and three-quarter gaz, and the breadth one
and a half gaz.
This article branches into many varieties, as Khirkhabutha —
large compound flowers, consisting of groups of smaller
ones. This is used by the Persians and Affghans.
Rupees per piece.
Rezabutha, small flowers thickly set, 200 to 700
Thaldar, net-work, . . 500 1700
Islfmi ... 250 400
Mehramat . .150 300
Khatherast . . 150 750
Marpech . . .200 350
Kalmkar . . 300 1000
Zakhe Angur . . 300 500
Chaporast . . 300 7000
Dogul, Seh gul, Chahar gul, &c. 500 1000
Barghebed . . .250 400
Gulisant . . 200 900
Duazdehkhat . . 700 1500
Duazdehrang . . 800 1400
Gule parwane . . 300 450
Kaddhar . . 300 2000
Kayhamu, Sabzkar, Safed . 120 130
These are made by the shawl weaver alone,
and go largely into Hindustan, where they are
dyed, the small green flowers being previously
tied up in hard small knots, so as to be pro
tected from the action of the dye, and are, of
course, when untied, each surrounded by a
small white field. Small eyes of spots of yel-

192 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
low, red, and of other colours, are supposed to
harmonize with the green flowers and the new
ground, and these are added by embroiderers
or Chikkandoz.

Kasabeh,or Rumal — Women's Veils — Square Shawls. These
are from one and a half to two and a half gaz square, and
are called, Khathdar. 300 to 500 rupees.
Mehramat. 150 to 300 ditto.
Islimt, with the thirteen other patterns of the Jama-
wars ; and in addition there are
Chaharbagh. 300 to 350 rupees.
Hashia. 100 to 175 ditto.
Chand. 50 to 200 ditto.
Chautahi. 150 to 400 ditto.
Shash Mantahi. 250 to 200 ditto.
Feringi. 100 to 500 ditto. Exported chiefly to Russia.
Tara Armeni. 100 to 250 ditto. Ditto to Armenia
and Persia.
Tara Rumi. 120 to 300 ditto. Ditto to Turkey.
Sada. 12 to 15 ditto, for domestic use.
Shamlas, or girdles for the waist, worn by the Asiatics, are
eight gaz in length, and one and a half gaz broad, and of
various colours and patterns, and vary from 50 to 2000 ru
pees a-piece, according to the richness of the work.
Doshala, or shawls, which contain three palas instead of two,
go only to Tibet, and sell for 100 to 150 rupees.
Goshpech, or Patka, or turbans, are in length from eight to
ten gaz, breadth one gaz, and of all colours. One variety
has two palas, two zanjirs, and two hashias. 150 to 800
rupees.

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 193
Mandila, another variety, sometimes has a zanjir, and some
times is without this ornament. This latter is from eight
to ten gaz in length, and about twelve giras broad. 45 to
70 rupees.
Khalin Pashmina, shawl-carpets. This is sold at 20 to 40
rupees the square gaz of only three-quarters, and is made of
any size in a single piece.
Nakash, trowsers. Some are with, others without seams. The
former are made of two pieces, which are sown together by
the rafugar, the latter by the jarab saz, or stocking-maker.
200 to 500 rupees a pair.
Chaharkhana, netted cloth. Length indefinite, breadth one
and a half gaz, used by women. 5 to 10 rupees per gaz.
Gulbadan. Length indefinite, breadth from fourteen giras to
one gaz. 5 to 6 rupees per gaz.
Lungi, girdles. Length three and a half gaz, breadth one
and a half gaz. These differ from Shamlas by being
in narrow check, and bordered by lines of different colours.
50 to 70 rupees.
Takhin, caps. 8 anas 4 rupees.
Jarab, short stockings. Guldar and Mehramat, flowered and
striped. 1 to 5 rupees.
Moze Pashmina, long stockings. 5 to 25 rupees.
Sakkab Posh, canopies. 300 to 1500 rupees.
Darparda, curtains for doors and windows. Same price as
Jamawar, by measure.
Kajjari Asp, saddle-cloths. Ditto.
Kajjari Fil, elephants' housing. Ditto.
Balaposh, or Palang Posh, quilt or coverlet. 300 to 1000
rupees.
Galaband, cravat. 12 to 300 rupees.
Pistan band, neckerchief. 5 to 15 rupees.
Langota, waistbelts. 15 to 30 rupees.
VOL. II. O

194 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Postin, cloths . left long in the nap to line pelisses. 500 to
1000 rupees.
Paipech, leggings. Length two gaz, breadth one gira, of all
colours. 2 to 10 rupees.
Yezar, or Izar band, waist-strings. 1 to 15 rupees.
Takkia, pillow-bier. Same price as Jamawar.
Khalita, bags or purses. 8 anas to 2 rupees.
Kabbar Posh, shrouds or covers for tomb-stones. Same price
as Jamawar.
Takposh, covers or hangings in front of recesses or cupboards.
Ditto.
And Khwanposh, dish-covers or napkins, of various qualities
and patterns, from 30 to 500 rupees a piece.
The whole value of shawl-goods manufac
tured in Kashmir may be estimated at about
thirty-five lacs of rupees per annum, or say,
three hundred thousand pounds. It had,
however, latterly, much declined, and it was
expected that in the year 1822-3 the value
would scarcely exceed half the above sum.
Kashmir was formerly resorted to for shawl-
goods by merchants from Turkey, both in
Asia and Europe, by Armenians, Persians,
Afghans, Uzbeks, and by traders from Hin
dustan and from Chinese Turkistan. Poli
tical events had largely reduced the trade
with Persia, Turkey, and the' Panjab, and
that with Hindustan had sustained much de-

CH. III.] - AND PESHAWAR. 195
triment from the prevalence of British rule,
and the loss of wealth by the Native courts,
in which costly shawls were formerly a prin
cipal article of attire. The trade with Turk
istan was on the increase, in consequence of
the extending demands of Russia.
The manufacture of shawls, however im
portant to the population of Kashmir, is not
the only mechanical process to which their
industry is directed, and their workmen have
considerable reputation for the fabrication of
gun and pistol barrels. It seems likely that
upon the introduction of the use of fire-arms,
the methods long, and perhaps exclusively
known to the Asiatics, of manufacturing
sword blades of peculiar excellence, was trans
ferred, with some modification, to that of gun-
barrels, and are still in use for that purpose.
In Persia, Kabul, the Panjab, and Sindh, the
same general principles prevail, but the
matchlocks of the last are held deservedly in
highest estimation. In some parts of India
the workmen prefer for the material of their
barrels the iron of old sugar-boilers, from
some such notions, perhaps, as recommend
horse-shoe nails in England; but where this
o 2

196 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
is not to be had, they employ the spongy,
cavernous, and crude mass, which has been
first reduced from the ore : the fuel used is
wood-charcoal only. The forge is employed
for no other sort of work, and is usually esta
blished at the mouth of an oblong chamber,
raised within the gunsmith's shop. The plat
form of this chamber is lower than the general
level of the floor of the shop, by a few inches
only at the mouth, but deepens by a regular
slope to the farther end, making about a foot
in difference between the front and the back.
The sides and the end are closed by a straight,
upright walling, and the top by a vaulted roof,
pierced by a vent-hole for the smoke, which
is diffused through the upper part of the
shop, and escapes by the roof and windows.
The roof is generally horizontal, but some
times slopes from the mouth to the end, like
the upper leather of a shoe, from the instep
to the toe. This forge differs in dimensions,
but in the clear, from the mouth to the end,
is frequently about three feet six inches, in
the height of the wall inside, four feet, and
the breadth about eighteen inches.
The tew-hole, or space for the nozzle of the

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 197
bellows, is invariably in the left-hand wall,
on a level with the platform of the general
floor of the shop, and about six inches from
the mouth of the forge, which is open from
the floor to the roof. The whole is built of
brick, plastered both within and without with
clay mortar. There is no metallic back, and
the tew-hole is in general metallic only in
part, consisting of a narrow slip of iron, about
ten inches in length, worked at one end into
a broad tongue, of which the edges are bent
upwards, turned over, and form the circle, or
end of a tube, the rest being made merely of
clay ; and the narrow end of the slip running
through the wall, and being worked into it,
keeps the whole in place. The circle of iron
is covered with a coating of clay, and the
opening has a direction somewhat more down
wards than horizontal, so that the stream of
air from the bellows strikes more directly
upon the metal exposed to its action than
that of an European forge. The bellows are
double, as is the case through India generally.
Each pair consists of a goat skin untanned,
but made pliable by being rubbed between
the hands, and the hair side is left outwards

198 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [p ART III.
For this appropriation the body of the animal
is extracted by an incision, continued from
the middle of the hinder part of one thigh to
the same point in the other.
A cylindrical tube of iron, or of wood, is
inserted into, and tied tight in the neck, as
the nozzle of the bellows, and the skin of the
legs is also tied at the knees. But the edges
of the incision, by which, as before observed,
the body was extracted, are stiffened, and
kept apart by a long piece of wood sewn to
each side ; and these are connected with each
other by thongs of white leather. These
thongs, in the form of loops, admit the fingers
and thumb of the operator, who, with each
hand, works each pair of bellows inserted into
the tew-hole by their nozzles, side by side, by
opening and shutting the mouth of each alter
nately, and pressing the air contained in their
cavities forwards and downwards. By this
simple apparatus the air is thrown upon the
work in a continued stream, and a welding
heat is soon got up. The whole forge is a
parallelogram of such a length, as is nearly
capable of receiving half the whole length of
the longest barrel made, and the bottom of

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 199
the platform is covered with light ashes. A
brick laid on its edge from the side-wall just
beyond the tew-hole projects into, and partly
across the forge, and is met by another at
right angles, placed in the length, from which
results a space about eight inches in length,
and six in breadth, bounded on one side by
the wall, by the longitudinal brick on the
other, and open to the mouth of the forge,
having the tew-hole in the middle on the wall
side. In this space is placed the charcoal, of
which the consumption is small, and little of
the heat is lost, through the fire being thus
confined by the bricks, and by the layer of
ashes, whilst the artist is capable of limiting
the action of the heat to as small a surface of
the work as he may desire. The whole ex
pense of a forge of this kind constructed for
myself, along with the bellows, did not exceed
five shillings, although the work was paid for
more largely than if it had been executed for
a native. The iron here employed is that of Bajour,
as it comes from the smelting furnace, after,
whilst hot, receiving a few blows, which
condense it into a rude kind of pig, of

200 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
which the weight differs from five to eight
sers (Kashmir), and which sells as high as
four pence per pound. The first process con
sists in cutting the pig, when heated, into
narrow strips with a cold chisel, and in this
operation the iron loses one-fourth of its gross
weight, from which some idea may be formed
of the large proportion of unmetallic matter
contained in it. Each of these strips, sepa
rately, is brought to a welding heat, and
worked smartly under the hammers of two
men, on a block of compact limestone, which,
fixed in the ground, serves as an anvil. When
the slag is expelled by this operation, each
strip is drawn out under the hammer into a
strap about two feet in length, an inch and a
fifth in breadth, and one-fifth of an inch in
thickness. One of these straps has its ends
so brought together as to form a parallelo
gram, generally about five and a half inches
long, and sufficiently broad to contain twenty
lengths of the other straps cut up for the pur
pose. Some of these are wedged in upon
their edge, their faces standing parallel to
each other, and to the long sides of the belt-
ipg strap, of which the ends have been pre-

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 201
viously welded together. The pie is then
turned to its opposite face, and other pieces
of strap are driven between the lengths, which
were inserted on the opposite side, so as to
make the whole tight; and this object is
further aided by its being put into the fire,
lightly heated, and receiving a few blows
upon both faces as well as upon the edges. It
is next smeared over with a paste of clay and
water, placed near the fire, and when dried, a
light welding heat being taken at it, the whole
is struck up into a tolerably compact mass
by smart, but rather light hammering. Ex
posed now to a stronger heat, the mass is vi
gorously and quickly hammered, and beaten
out into four-sided bars, about a foot long,
and a finger's thickness. These are each
heated again separately, and drawn out into
square rods, about a quarter of an inch broad
on each face. One of these rods, neatly
squared and free from scale, is pushed into
the forge fire, so that the loose end penetrates
under the cross firebrick into the bed of ashes,
and the middle only is exposed to the fire.
When it has got a red heat nearly verging
upon white, it is withdrawn, and the loose

202 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
end being quickly engaged in a small square
staple projecting from the surface of a log of
wood close to the mouth of the forge, so as to
be held fast, the fireman having previously
secured the opposite end between the jaws of
a small pair of tongs with a slide on the stems,
begins to twist the rod on its axis from right
to left, or in the contrary direction. The hot
test part, or that fit for receiving a close twist,
is ordinarily from two to three inches in
length; and an assistant sitting close to the
rod with a small pot containing cold water,
and having a spout projecting from its side,
pours a stream upon the part between the hot
and the black portion of the bar at one end,
and then quickly at the other, to prevent
these portions receiving an imperfect twist;
and by the same means he cools the part
twisted, as soon as it has acquired the proper
screw. By one complete revolution of the
rod, four winds are generated from the four
angles of the square, and by the repetition of
the process, through a succession of heats,
the whole rod is converted into a fine screw,
the workmen endeavouring to render it as
even as possible. Each heat furnishes about

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 203
two or three inches of twist, according as the
workmen are more or less expert ; and a con
siderable quickness, both in eye and in hand,
is required on the part of the cooler to pre
vent the occurrence of twist in a portion of
the rod not possessing a sufficient degree of
heat to admit of it twisting kindly. Barrels
are called plain, pechdar, or simply twisted,
or jouhardar, or damasked. For the latter,
which are especially the subject of this paper;
the rods are disposed according to the kind
of brilliant or damasked lines intended to be
produced, and which are distinguished by
names taken from the country in which each
variety is most affected, or from the nature,
or figure, in which the lines are disposed, — as
Irani, or Persian, belonging to the former
class, and Pigeon's Eye, Lover's Knot, Chain,
&c, appertaining to the latter.
To make an Irani barrel six or eight rods
are required. In regard to the latter number
four are employed of those twisted from right
to left, and the same number of such as have
received the opposite twist, or from left to
right. Every rod, after having been slightly
heated, is lightly hammered on its two oppo-

204 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
site sides equally : thus a rod has four dis
tinct portions in its circumference, of which
two have the threads beaten down, and are
somewhat flattened, whilst the two others
have the threads standing, and retain their
original roundness. The rods are now, or
were previously to being flattened, length
ened by being welded end to end, and care
is taken that each rod is made up of lengths
of the same direction of twist, with as little
disturbance to the thread at the joints as
practicable. They are next laid parallel
to each other, their flat sides being in con
tact : rods of opposite twist being disposed
in alternate succession ; as, first, one twisted
from left to right, next, one twisted from
right to left, and so on. This done, the
extremities of the rods are brought into close
contact, and welded together, each end of
the general bar presenting a wedge of about
an inch and a half in length, flat on the
upper and lower surfaces, and narrow on
the sides or edges, the middle rod forming
the point of the wedge. In the whole extent
of the bar the rods remain merely in contact,
the welding being confined to its extremities

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 205
alone. The band, or skelp, is now ready for
being formed into a hollow cylinder, through
being bent or twisted in a spiral line upon
itself, which process is begun at the thicker
end, and continued to the thinner or muzzle,
the lower extremity, or that intended for the
breeching, being struck vigorously and per
pendicularly down upon the stone anvil be
tween the hammerings of every twist, for the
purpose of jumping up the edges, and bring
ing them into close contact. When the twist
ing is so far completed that the edges of all
the twists stand even, and touch each other,
and the cylinder is nearly equal throughout
its length, it is coated with a thin paste of
clay and water, and is then ready for being
welded. A welding heat is first taken in the
middle of the cylinder, and the edges of the
twists thus heated are brought into intimate
contact by being jumped up, as before no
ticed. On this being done, the cylinder is
returned to the fire, and, when the heat is
well on, the twist that was jumped up is
smartly hammered, so that one round is or
dinarily welded at a heat. At the coming
on of the second welding heat the jumping

206 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART HI.
up is repeated, followed by the welding when
the heat has been regained, and so on suc
cessively until the barrel has been welded
up to the muzzle. The welding is recom
menced from the middle of the barrel, and,
with a jumping intermediate between every
two weldings, the process is continued to the
breeching. This is repeated by commencing
at the middle, and welding to the breeching,
and afterwards proceeding from the middle
to the muzzle, during which an iron rod is
introduced at each end, and used as a man
dril : a third heat, but merely red, is now
taken at the whole surface of the barrel;
which is smartly hammered, and rendered
regular and level. The barrel is then fixed
horizontally through a hole in an upright
post, and bored, after which its surface is
filed, polished, and prepared for bringing out
the brilliant, or damasked lines.
The jouhar, or damask, is brought out
through biting the whole surface with kas-
sis, or sulphate of iron. The barrel is com
pletely freed from grease or oil by being well
rubbed with dry ashes and a clean rag.
About three pice and one-third, or one pal,

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 207
or about three drachmas, of sulphate of iron,
in powder, is mixed with as much water as is
sufficient to bring it to the consistence of
thick paste, which is smeared equally over
the whole surface of the barrel, a stick being
first introduced tightly into the muzzle to
prevent any of the corrosive mixture acting
upon the inside; and a like precaution is
taken in respect to the breeching and the
touch-hole. As soon as, by removing a little
of the paste, it is seen that the metal has
assumed a blackish colour, and which ordi
narily happens in about two hours after it
has been applied, the coating is rubbed off,
and the barrel thoroughly cleaned with dry
ashes and a soft rag. The same quantity of
sulphate of iron as before mentioned is mixed
with about four ounces of water, with which
the barrel is smeared, and at the expiration
of four hours is cleaned, as before mentioned,
after which it is again coated with the solu
tion, and hung up in the well. Every gun
smith, for the purpose of corroding or da
masking barrels, has a well in the floor of
his shop, about two yards in depth, a yard in
diameter at the bottom, and diminishing gra-

208 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
dually to a span's breadth at the top, of
which the mouth is crossed by a stick, and
closed by a small wooden trap-door. The
bottom of the well is covered with a coating
of fresh horse-dung, half a yard in thickness.
Suspended by a string from the cross stick,
the barrel, which has been covered with the
mixture of the sulphate of iron, is taken out,
scrupulously, every morning, cleaned with
dry ashes and a cloth, as before stated, again
smeared with the solution, and hung up for
twenty-four hours. If the mixture be suf
fered to remain on the barrel longer than this
period, rusting takes place, which acts as well
upon the lines expected to be brought out as
upon the other parts, and defeats the object
of the operation. But if the process be regu
larly repeated every morning, as mentioned
above, prominent lines will be discovered on
the surface of the barrel, separated from each
other more or less by other depressed lines,
or grooves, and the former will be found to
have the same direction with that of the
threads in the twisted rods. The prominent
lines when rubbed are bright, and of a colour
somewhat approaching to that of silver,

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 209
whilst the depressed lines are dark. The
former are obviously the outer circumference
or edge of the thread of the screw, more or
less condensed and flattened by the hammer,
and the latter the spaces betwixt the threads.
Whether this difference in effect arise solely
from a difference in hardness between the
periphery of the thread produced by the
twisting, or from some other circumstance,
is left to the decision of others, it being the
intention of the writer to confine his obser
vations to facts, leaving deductions to future
examination, when there is doubt or obscure-
ness in the subject.
The process is generally continued for
twenty days, or a month, according to the
degree of prominence required in the bril
liant lines ; is hastened by a high tempera
ture, and delayed by a low one, but as yet
has been subjected to variations, not go
verned by any other rule than the result of
common experience.
The principal character of difference be
tween the Zanjir and Persian damask con
sists in the introduction into the former of a
band of prominent and brilliant lines, dis-
VOL. n. p

210 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
posed in a manner somewhat resembling the
links of a chain between parallel plain lines
of damask, ultimately bounded by two
twisted rods on each side of the whole ; and
the barrel is made up of a repetition of this
pattern, by a single band being wound upon
its axis in a spiral line, as in the Persian
damask. T,he processes of cutting up the
pig, and of reducing the strips into straps,
are the same in both the Persian and the
chain damask, but the subsequent manage
ment differs materially. In this latter the
ghilaf, or pie, is made up of eighteen lengths,
wedged into the belt, and treated for the ma
nufacture of the rods, as before mentioned ;
but the pie for the chain contains only eight
lengths, which altogether weigh little more
than a pound and a quarter. This pie, when
welded, is drawn out into straps, about half
an inch in breadth, and one- sixth of an inch
in thickness. One of these straps, being
heated, is bent backwards and forwards upon
itself in eight continued folds or loops, each
an inch in length, and, being brought to a
welding heat, is knocked up, and worked
into a strap only one-third of an inch broad,

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 211
and one -tenth of an inch in thickness.
Three of this kind of strap are required in
this pattern, viz., one for the chain, and two
for the lines before noticed. The face of the
iron anvil of a gunsmith has, at one edge, a
perpendicular hollow about a quarter of an
inch deep, and about one-third of an inch
in its opposite diameters. Across this groove
one end of the strap is laid, whilst cold, and
driven down into it by a small chisel and a
hammer, by which the strap receives a bend
or angle. Its opposite face is then placed
across the die or groove, within a short dis
tance from the acute elbow made by the
chisel, and, in like manner, wedged into the
former, after which the operation is reversed,
and so on in succession on the opposite sides,
until the whole band is converted into a frill
of loops. This frill is then heated, and the
operator, holding one end with a small pair
of tongs, and, seizing the opposite sides of
the middle of two loops of the heated ex
tremity with the small and sharp jaws of an
other pair, brings them into contact, leaving
the ends open. The opposite sides of the
strap betwixt the two next loops is treated in
p2

212 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
the same way, and so on till the frill is
much reduced in length, through the loops
of the strap standing right across its general
direction, in which position they present the
appearance of the links of a chain, each
much drawn in at the middle. Different
lengths of frill are welded together, so as to
form a riband six spans long, confined late
rally by being in contact with two plain
straps set on edge, and bounded externally
by four rods, two on each side, lying parallel
and in contact, and of which latter one is
twisted from left to right, and its immediate
neighbour from right to left. The extremi
ties of the general band of these seven straps
and rods are welded up into a wedge, and
the band being extended along the surface,
a plain strap of equal breadth and length is
welded upon it, afterwards hammered out
and twisted, and in all other respects treated
as was the band for the Persian damask.
The chain damask is, in general, preferred
to all other varieties yet invented, excepting
the silver twist, of which I cannot speak
much further than as having seen it when
completed, and as this affects merely the

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 213
appearance of the barrel, and contributes
not to its strength, an acquaintance with the
process is rather a matter of curiosity, or of
luxury, than of use. It is said that the jow-
har, or damask, is imitated in Hindustan by
lines being traced in a coating of wax laid
over the metal, and the barrel being exposed
to the action of the sulphate of iron, and a
similar effect is stated to be produced by
waxed threads being twisted into certain
forms, and caused to adhere to the surface of
a polished plain barrel; the interstices, in
this case, undergoing a slight degree of cor
rosion, through being treated by this sul
phate. The fabrication of damasked sword-blades
is no longer practised in Kashmir, but I em
ployed some of the smiths to make some
upon the principles above described, and the
result of their workmanship was sent home.
A fabric of much greater importance to
Great Britain than that of damasked sword-
blades, is that of Yirak leather, or leather suited
for saddlery. Such pieces of this as came in
our way were usually old narrow slips em
ployed as reins and head-stalls ; but the leather

214 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
was strong, solid, heavy, and pliable, without
any disposition to crack. Some of the pieces
had been in use eighteen or twenty years, and
were none the worse for constant wear. The
price was four times that of other leather
made in Kashmir. The skins intended for
this leather, after being well cleaned, are
placed in a vat of clean water, with a layer of
pounded galls between every two skins ; a man
is employed to tread them down daily from
morning to night, for twenty-five days, fresh
galls being added every fifth day. They are
then hung to dry ; but before they are dry the
grain side is well rubbed with a paste of Ar
menian bole. When dry the flesh side is
lightly scraped, and mutton-suet is rubbed in
until the leather is saturated : the rubbing is
performed in the sunshine, and the skin is left
for several days exposed to the sun. It is
then put into water again, and trodden and
rubbed until all greasiness disappears, when
it is polished by being well rubbed with a
blunt iron instrument.
A branch of manufacture for which Kash
mir has long been celebrated, is that of orna
mented pen-cases made of paper. They are

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 215
of several varieties, classed under two heads
— Masnadi, or royal, and Farsi, or Persian : —
the former are articles of table-furniture, more
or less bulky ; the latter are portable. They
are usually long, shallow boxes, rounded at the
ends, with a sliding convex cover, and the
masnadi have sometimes trays or stands, or
are fitted with feet. Part of the interior is
separated to hold an inkstand. They are re
markable for the variety and elegance of the
patterns with which they are painted, most
generally of flowers, for the brilliancy of their
colours, and the beauty of the varnish. They
are most commonly made of paper, which has
been written upon, but sometimes of light
wood. The ground of the colouring is com
monly metallic, of gold or of tin, and the pig
ments employed are cochineal, or the kirmis
insect, ultra-marine from Yarkand, white-lead
from Russia, as well as verdigris from Surat,
and possibly from Britain. Other colouring
drugs are found in the country, or imported
from Hindustan. Varnishes are obtained
from the resin of the aloe or the storax ; but
the best is that of the" Kahruba, which is
usually regarded as amber, but is by some

216 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART HI.
said to be copal. Its abundance and cheap
ness in Kashmir certainly indicate its being
the produce of some living plant. The brushes
are made of the hair of the shawl- wool goat,
and the pencils from the hairs in the fur of
the cat. The painting is of two kinds, raised
and flat, and the former admits of several
diversities, according to the greater or less
relief given to the performance. The eleva
tion of the ornamented or embossed parts is
given by forming the ground of the ornaments
with white-lead, mixed with a solution of glue.
The surface is spotted with dots of white
paint, which are left to dry, and are then
trimmed with a knife ; they are then covered
with a surface of glue, and upon that the
colour of the ornament is laid. Birds and
butterflies are sometimes represented in this
manner, amongst flowers and foliage, on the
flat surface.
A similar style of painting is sometimes
applied to palankins, elephant houdas, and
even to the walls and ceilings of rooms. The
painters of Kashmir are an ingenious race,
and have talents which, under a fostering go
vernment and competent instruction, might

CH. III.] AND PESHAWAR. 217
be applied with success to loftier objects than
articles of furniture or decorated pen-cases.
Paper is made in Kashmir in considerable
quantity, from old cloth of the san-hemp, and
from cotton rags.

218 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.

CHAPTER IV.
Excursion to the Deodar Forest — Kashmir Boats — Vitastha — ¦
Shadehpur — Sambhalpur — Manas Lake — River Navigation —
Villages — Entrance to the Wular Lake — Lanka Island — Zein-
ul-ab-addin — Shape and Character of the Lake — Shooting—
Sinhara nut — Fishing — Mountains— Supur — Lalakoal River
— Valley — Scenery — Peasantry — Uttar District — Dardus —
Ziarat of Ghyber Shah — Darvesh — Village deserted — Segam —
Deodar Forests — Return.
Shortly after we were domesticated in Kash
mir we undertook a short excursion * to the
northern parts of the valley, partly for the
general purpose of exploring the country,
and partly to procure the seeds of the Deodar
pine, which in that situation attains its great
est size. Although some objections were
started to the journey, yet these were over
come, and the necessary permission was
granted. Surat Sinh and Maha Sinh were
appointed ostensibly as our Mehmandars,
with the additional duty, no doubt, of watch-
* These excursions in Kashmir are from the Journals of Mr.
Trebeck— Ed.

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 219
ing our proceedings and checking our inqui-
sitiveness. Part of our route was to be per
formed by water, along the Wular Lake, and for
this purpose we had four boats, long narrow
vessels of the canoe-build, with mat awnings,
and two smaller ones, with Shikaris, or pro
fessional hunters. We started on the afternoon
of the 15th of December, from the vicinity of
Dilawar Khan's garden, a little above the
bridge called Fateh kadal, and proceeded along
the Vitastha to the west. The houses were
on either bank close to the water's edge, and
we passed under several bridges. In about
half an hour we came to the confluence of the
Dudh Ganga, a small stream which joins the
Vitastha near the limits of the city. The river
was at first about forty yards broad, but lat
terly double that breadth, and flowed at the
rate of half a knot an hour ; the water was of
a greenish colour, but tolerably clear and
deep, with a hard and sound bottom. We
stopped just before dark at the hamlet of Pa-
lapura, on the right bank *. On the opposite
was the village of Shalating.
* The Phalapura of the Chronicles, founded by Lalitaditya in
the eighth century.— Ed.

220 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
On the 16th we proceeded in a direction
mostly to the north-west ; but the course of
the river was occasionally tortuous ; the banks
were in general low, and as regular as if they
were the borders of a canal ; the depth of the
water was from one to three fathoms; and
about a fathom higher was the greatest;
height to which it attained. We passed
several villages : one of these, said to be, by
land, seven kos from the city, Shadehpur, on
the left bank, was of some extent, and the site
of a market for grain. Immediately opposite
to it was the conflux of the Sindh with the
Behut. The former enters the latter by two
channels, separated by a space of about four
hundred yards. The banks are low; the river
is navigable to within a short distance of Guzar
Gandarbal. At two kos from Shadehpur we
came to Sambhalpur, a village in two divi
sions, separated by the river, but connected
by a fine bridge of considerable size. It rested
on four piers, constructed in the river, form
ing five water-ways, and was, at least, a hun
dred yards long. On the north-east, a low
ridge stretched from the mountains, and ter
minated within eight hundred yards of the

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 221
channel of the river. After quitting Sambhal
pur, we came to the mouth of a small stream
that looked like a canal. It was, however, an
outlet from the lake of Manasbal, which was
about three miles to the north *. This is above
two miles and a half in circumference, but
very deep, and, according to some reports,
unfathomable. A tradition prevails, that a
holy man devoted many years to the prepara
tion of a line long enough to reach the bottom ;
but finding his labour vain, he at last threw
himself in despair into the lake. The lake is
supplied entirely by internal springs. On its
north bank is the village of Safapur, where
the emperor Akbar had a garden. On the
southern bank is another village, that of Aha-
tingo ; limestone is found in the neighbour
hood, and is burnt there. We stopped for the
night at the village of Hasim. We encoun
tered a number of boats on this day's voyage.
Some of them were passage-boats like our
own. Others might more properly be de
nominated barges, as they were of consider
able size, carrying wood and provisions to the
* This is what Jacquemont calls " le plus lac des lacs de Cache-
myr, car il est le seul profoud." He does not name it.— Ed.

222 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART HI.
extent, perhaps, of one hundred and fifty
tons. They were flat-bottomed, slightly curved
at either extremity, and drew little water. A
cabin of mats, thatched, accommodated the
waterman and his family. When going with
the current, they were commonly pushed on
by long poles: occasionally they were pad
dled. There was no contrivance for steering.
Against the stream they were towed, twelve
or fifteen men being put upon the towing-line,
and with all their efforts making a progress
most tediously slow. The Behut is admirably
fitted for this canal-like navigation, from the
level direction of its banks, and their great
firmness and unbroken regularity. They were
clothed with grass to the edge of the water.
The bottom of the river was of stiff clay with
out a weed ; and although the water was not
exactly the liquid crystal of an alpine rill, yet
it had lost little of its primitive clearness, and
was rarely discoloured by soil.
Much rain had fallen during the day, and
the mountain barriers of the valley had been
completely hidden, so that the view from the
boat resembled that which is commonly pre
sented by the rivers of Hindustan, except that

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 223
instead of the mud or mat cottages peeping
from amidst tufts of bambus, or clumps of the
verdant mango or pipal, the no less rudely-
constructed log-hut appeared amidst clusters
of tall trees, stript of their foliage by the blasts
of winter. The villages were also thinly scat
tered along the banks and adjacent plain, and
they were in general in a ruinous and half-
deserted condition. Everything wore a de
cidedly wintry aspect, and we felt ourselves
in the climate of the north of Europe. The
flocks of wild ducks and geese that had de
serted the frozen lakes to seek food on the
river surpassed in numbers and in clamour
anything ofthe kind we had hitherto encoun
tered. On the morning of the 17th we left Hasim,
and in something less than two hours came to
a division of the river into two channels, lead
ing to the lake. We followed the smaller,
which was on the right, and in a quarter of
an hour entered the Ular, or Wular Lake :
opposite to the entrance was a small island
not more than three hundred yards in circum
ference, on which we landed. There were
two ruined buildings upon it; one of stone, at

224 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
its eastern extremity, was evidently of Hindu
construction : several polygonal massive co
lumns were strewed about, but there was no
sculpture nor inscription. The other build
ing, more to the left, was merely an oblong
house with pitched roof and plastered wall,
on which latter were fragments of a blue ena
mel. A stone with a Persian inscription was
brought to us, which intimated that a mosque
had been erected here by Zein-ul-ab-addin,
the sovereign of Kashmir, between the Hejira
years 827 and 878. The islet, which is the
only one in the lake, is called Lanka, and is
the subject of several traditions. According
to one of these, the lake, about the time just
mentioned, extended to the vicinity of Sum-
bhalpur, and the extent therefore to be tra
versed exposed the boats to sudden gales of
wind, and occasioned frequent loss of lives.
To prevent such accidents, Zein-ul-ab-addin
determined to form a half-way landing-place,
and accordingly had ordered an immense pile
of stones and rubbish, derived from the Hindu
temples which he had demolished, to be
thrown into the water, and thus formed the
substratum of the island, to which, in ridicule

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 225
of Hindu tradition, he gave the name of
Lanka. Another story is, that the capital of
Kashmir formerly occupied the site now co
vered by the lake, but that it suddenly sunk,
and was submerged by some great convulsion
of nature : Zein ul abaddin, it is added,
caused the lake to be explored for some relics
ofthe catastrophe, and the buildings now on
Lanka were constructed by his orders, of frag
ments recovered from the water. The cele
brated Mirza Hyder extols Lanka as a de
lightful spot for a party of pleasure : at pre
sent it offers nothing calculated to give a zest
to recreation, containing only a few wretched
huts, inhabited by tenants miserably poor,
and abominably dirty : a party of women
welcomed us with a song, and it was hard to
say whether their squalid persons or discord
ant voices were most repulsive. A water line
was noticed on the bank ofthe island, at least
forty feet above the surface of the lake. We
started from Lanka at half-past one, and in
something less than an hour arrived at the
northern edge of the lake, where we stopped
for the night.
The Lake of Ular is of an oblong shape ;
VOL. II. Q

226 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
its northern bank is skirted by the mountains,
which terminate the valley so closely, as
scarcely in some parts to leave a footpath
between them and the water: more to the
westward they again recede, leaving an open
space of perhaps a mile. The outline of the
lake is very regular, and its general appear
ance is picturesque and pleasing : we saw it
under unfavourable circumstances ; in sum
mer it would, no doubt, afford a resemblance
to some of the lakes of Westmoreland or Scot
land. At the season we visited it, the water
being low, left a line of swamp between it
and the shore : the hills beyond the level rose
to one thousand or one thousand two hundred
feet, and were thickly clothed with pine fo
rests, and similar mountains shut in the view
to the east and west, beyond the low and
richly-wooded lands of the valley. The bot
tom of the lake was of soft mud, and the
depth, where we sounded, varied from less
than one fathom to two fathoms or something
more. At the place where we rested were
many boats and barges taking in rice in the
husk, brought down to the water-side by the
villagers, who were a stout, athletic race.

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 227
Thousands of water-fowl were sporting on the
lake, but they were very shy, and it was difficult
to approach near enough for sport. In shoot
ing them, the Kashmirian sportsman employs
a matchlock, the barrel of which is at least
ten feet long. When rowed near to the game,
he and the single boatman who accompanies
him, lie down in the boat so as to be seen as
little of as possible by the birds, and then
with small paddles and their hands over the
sides, gently push the boat onwards until
within range : two or three birds generally
fall at each discharge. The Kashmirians
have very exaggerated ideas of the extent of
this lake, and one of them gravely asked me
if it was not as large as the sea. A number
of boats on the lake were employed in raking
up the sinhara, or water-nut : for this purpose
a long stake is stuck in the muddy bottom,
and a small boat with three or four men lashed
to it : the men are furnished with a pole, at
one end of which a flat board is fastened, and
with this they rake the bottom, dragging up the
plants ; these at first are much entangled by
their long fibrous stems, but they are unra
velled by suspension for some time in the
q2

228 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
water. The government, it is said, receives
annually ninety-six thousand kharwars or ass
loads of the nut. There were also boats en
gaged in fishing; two moderately heavy boats
and two light skiffs usually act together for
this object : in each of the former are two
men, one rowing, the other managing the net;
the latter is paddled by one man seated at
the head. The net is of the shape of a cone,
but of a considerable size ; the mouth is
stretched on a wooden frame, in the form of a
parabola of nearly a fathom area, a pole ex
tending from the base to the summit, in
tended both to give support to a rod which
reaches to the end of the bag, keeping it
stretched, and to be of use in raising the net,
which is too heavy to be wholly managed by
a single person. When all is ready, the sterns
of the two larger boats are brought so near
together, that the space between them may
be wholly occupied by the nets lowered on
their sides ; the skiffs then go a-head, and
wheeling round, make between the two larger
boats, striking the water smartly ; the net is
drawn as they approach, and each man in
the skiff assists the one in the large boat to

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 229
raise it. A single jerk empties the net of its
contents, and it is again lowered ;l the skiffs
then proceed, and turning round their com
panions, again row a-head, and the operation
is repeated. The rapidity and regularity
with which these manoeuvres are repeated
render the fishing on Lake Ular an amusing
and interesting spectacle. The fish caught
are in general small, but a variety of trout is
sometimes taken ten or twelve pounds weight.
The fishermen sometimes use grains for strik
ing them.
On the morning of the 18th we proceeded
towards the south-western extremity of the
lake ; on our right, at the horizontal distance
of not more than eight hundred paces, was a
small house surrounded by trees, on the top of a
small hill ; this is the garden of a Kashmirian
saint, named Shukar-uddin : beyond this the
mountains run off to the west, and the shore of
the lake lies low. The crown of the range of
mountains running across the valley parallel
with the shore was about two miles horizon
tally distant from the latter: at the south
western extremity, distant about three miles

230 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
from the opposite shore, we re-entered the
channel of the river, here about one hundred
and fifty yards broad, and stopped early in
the afternoon at Supur, a town on both sides
of the stream, connected by a bridge of three
piers, between eighty and a hundred yards
long. At Supur was a bazar for provisions,
and for the Bajauri or Peshawari iron, which
passes through this on its way from the west
to Srinagar. The streets were narrow, crooked,
and in wet weather are very dirty, and the
houses presented the same characteristic de
formities as those of the capital. A small
brick fort stood on the right bank of the river,
at the northern end of the bridge ; the walls
¦were lofty, but not very substantial. Passing
below the bridge, we found our horses and
servants who had been sent to meet us. The
latter had taken up their quarters in an empty
house, one of the best mansions in the town,
but without owner or tenant, and accessible
to any one that pleased to enter. Surat
Sinh and Ganes Pandit, the farmer of the
revenue of the district, were at Supur with a
party of Sikh soldiers, levying taxes : the

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 231
latter was a tall, thin young man, heavy in
conversation, and said to bear a very indiffer
ent character.
On the 19th of December we commenced
our land journey, proceeding in a north
westerly direction from Supur. The road
at some short distance skirted the northern
edge of the small river Lala-koal, which
joined the Behut near the village of Dabu :
the breadth of the valley was about two
miles. On this side of Poru, five kos from
Supur, the surface was irregular ; but from
thence a small, but beautiful plain lay be
fore us. At two miles further on we came
to the hamlet of Chogul, where a party of
Sikhs were stationed. We halted a little in
advance at Nulu Nupu, where the valley was
not more than eight hundred paces broad,
with the Lala-koal curling sluggishly along
its 'centre. The country along the whole of
the route was very beautiful. On quitting
Supur we traversed a broad, flat surface, with
the mountains on either hand too remote to
display their features in detail. From the
top of the high bank whence Chogul was
first beheld the' scene was somewhat changed.

232 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Before us was a plain nearly circular, bounded
to westward by long swelling ridges, bearing
broken forests of pine, interspersed with tracts
of soil of evident fertility : beyond thein were
lofty mountains in their winter garb. Later
in the day their snowy summits blended with
the hazy sky, and formed an admirable back
ground to the frowning forests and the smil
ing plain; the latter, studded with orchards
and hamlets, which lay nearest to the spec
tator. The beauty of the scenery, however,
ill harmonised with the appearance of the
peasantry. Their huts were inferior in com
fort to an English cow-house, and their clothes
were insufficient to defend them from the cold
of the season. Not one-twentieth part of the
arable land was in cultivation, and a number
of half-choked canals attested once careful,
and now neglected irrigation. We were
lodged in a miserable hut, which scarcely
afforded as good a shelter as might have been
attained underneath some trees in the neigh
bourhood, especially as their boughs were
covered with long thick ropes of grass, hung
there as a supply of winter forage. Maha
Sinh and his Sikhs seemed to be practising

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 233
the usual system of violence and extortion, as
far as we might judge from the clamorous re
monstrances of the villagers.
The valley on the following day was much
contracted : the hills on either side were low,
and generally covered with pine forest ; the
lower part of the valley was fertile, and was
mostly cultivated ; amongst the trees we no
ticed the apple, the trela a delicious crab,
the vine, the walnut, and the peach. The
Lala-koal divided into two branches ; one to
the right, called the Lolab, was that which we
followed, the other, the Poru, rises in the dis
trict of Uttar, at about eight kos distance to
the westward. The district of Uttar is formed
chiefly of a fine valley, partially cultivated,
bounded on each side by snow-topped moun
tains; these approach towards its end, and
beyond it we were told lay the Bamba country
of Karnao. After pursuing the line of the
stream for some way, we crossed it, and
changed our direction from north-west to
north-east, proceeding up a narrow valley.
On the opposite of the hills on our north we
were told was the country called Drao. It
is nearly covered with forest, and is rarely

234 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
visited, except by cow-keepers, owing in some
measure to the incursions of the Dardus, the
last of which took place twenty years ago.
The country of these latter was pointed out
in the same direction, or rather at north-west,
and was said to be nine days' journey distant;
but on this head accounts were very contra
dictory, some stating the distance to be a
journey of a month, and others of only four
days. At about four miles on the road we came to
a holy shrine, called the Ziarat of Ghyber
Shah, where two huts were erected for the
accommodation of travellers ; they were in
the charge of an old Darwesh, who has inhe
rited the office from his ancestors, and has
been here since infancy. He pretended to be
ninety years old. He could give us no ac
count of the saint, nor seemed to understand
the prayers which he muttered with consider
able fluency in Arabic ; part of his duty was to
keep up a fire from morning till night. The
surface of the valley from hence was some
what uneven, and was in part covered by thin
patches of snow : the river flowed gently along
within bowshot of our right. We halted at

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 235
the village of Tsira-koth, where the valley
was about eight hundred paces broad. The
hills on our right were not above seven
hundred feet high; those on the left were
rather loftier, and in the distance were seen
others of very considerable elevation ; the
ridge rising two thousand feet above our level,
and being entirely covered with snow. The
hardy pine, however, ascended nearly to its
summit. The village where we stopped was
half deserted, and the few inhabitants that
remained wore the semblance of extreme
wretchedness : without some relief or change
of system, it seems probable that this part of
the country will soon be without inhabitants.
Yet the soil seemed favourable for rice culti
vation, and the crop appeared to have been a
good one. The poor people, however, were
likely to reap little advantage from their la
bours, for a troop of tax-gatherers were in the
village, who had sequestered nine-tenths of
the grain for their employer, Jawahir Mal,
the farmer of the revenue. The soil was rich,
and the remains of watercourses showed that
it had once been made productive : we rode
also over lines of deserted orchards, which

236 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
must, at one period, have formed a forest of
fruit-trees. The direction of our route must
have taken us round the northern end of the
Ular Lake, and there was a road on our right
which led direct over the hills to the district
of Kuhiama, on its borders. We might, there
fore, have come hither in much less time, but
it seemed to be part of our guide's policy to
take us by the most circuitous route.
From Tsira-koth we proceeded to the vil
lage of Sogam, along a valley which runs
first to the south-east and then east by south.
On our way we again crossed the Lolab,
which rises on this side the pass leading to
Hasora and Little Tibet, about eleven miles
off. The mountains seemed to increase but
little in height: those on our left were the
loftiest, but by no means of impracticable
ascent, whilst those on our right were low,
and were covered with the Deodar forest,
which we had come to visit. We were too
late, however, for seed, by three months.
The cones had all fallen, and several young
shoots had risen two or three inches above
the ground. The snow was a foot deep in
many places. The valley was much the

CH. IV.] AND PESHAWAR. 237
same as that bf the preceding day, present
ing an undulating surface, and thickly over
spread with orchards of the walnut, apple,
trela, or crab, and pear, intermixed with firs
and cedars.
The people of Sogam were almost in a
savage state. The men were, in general,
tall and robust ; the women haggard and ill-
looking. The houses were mostly con
structed of small trees, coarsely dovetailed
together, and coated with rough plaster in
side. A flat planking was laid over the
top, resting on the walls, and above that a
sloping roof was constructed, open at the
ends, the space being either filled with dry
grass, or serving to give shelter to the poul
try. The interior was divided by partitions
of wicker-work, plastered, into three or four
small, dark, and dirty apartments. In sum
mer - time the scenery here must be very
lovely. Having thus accomplished one of our pur
poses, at least, we set out on our homeward
march on the 22nd, and reached Supur on
the same day after dark. We there em-

238 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
barked, and, after crossing the lake, were
towed up the river. We arrived at Dila-
war Khan's garden late on the 24th of De
cember.

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 239

CHAPTER V
Visit to the Sources of the Behut — Canals — Dal Lake — Ruined
Temple — Ancient Pillar — Small Stream — Pampur — Saffron —
Sulphur Spring — Ruined Temple of the Pandus — Wantipur —
Ruins — Tral — Vijipara — Garden of Dara Shekoh — Branches
of the Behut — Islamabad — Vir-nag River — Shahahad — Re
mains of Palace of Jehangir — Springs — Visit to the Cave of
Munda — Ruined Temples at Karewe Matan — Sacred Pools at
Bhuvan — Return.
On the 6th of May we set out from Kashmir
on a visit to the sources of the Behut and the
eastern divisions of the country, attended
by a Sikh escort under command of Surat
Sinh. On quitting our house we proceeded to
wards the river, and then, turning to the left,
passed through a narrow, irregular, and dirty
street parallel with it. A few yards beyond
the Haba Kadal, which is the loftiest bridge

240 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
except one in the city, we again turned to
the left, and at a distance of about a mile
reached the winding canal of Drogjan,
planted on each side with tall poplars, round
which vines were twining, sometimes as high
as their middle branches. We were now be
yond the limits of the city. The canal re
ceives the water of the celebrated little Dal,
or lake, which is supplied principally by a
stream flowing from behind the garden of
Shahlimar, and pours it into the Behut, op
posite to the south-east curtain of Shir Gerh.
Its connexion with the lake, when the con
tents of the latter are much diminished, is
cut off by a strong folding gate, shutting be
low a bridge, which we presently crossed.
After passing over it we came near to the
foot of the hill on which stands the Takhti
Suliman, and continued along its base for
more than a mile. From thence we came
again to the river, which in this part winds
very considerably. Hills were close upon
our left. In the middle of a small, but deep
tank stood a small dilapidated temple, evi
dently Hindu, and said to be as old as the
commencement of the Christian era. The

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 241
side of the hill above it was covered with
fragments of stone, on some of which figures
were sculptured, and on others ornamental
carving was noticed. One large stone of a
conical shape had the appearance of a
lingam, but the peasants said it was a mark
for the ball used in playing at chaugan, em
ployed by a race of giants who formerly
dwelt here. Another was pointed out as the
goal, but proved to be the upper part and
capital of a huge polygonal pillar, the shaft
of which was seven yards in circumference.
Traces of figures' sculptured on its upper part
were indistinctly perceptible. This fragment
lay upon the top of a small mound, entirely
alone, and no other remains of sculpture or
building were discoverable in its immediate
vicinity. Beyond this was the commence
ment of the village of Pankchok, on the
right bank of the Behut, and opposite was
the hamlet of Lajien, where a large quantity
of mats are annually manufactured.
The road continued along the river, but
the hills on the left had receded to the dis
tance of nearly two miles. The surface of
the valley was much broken by swamps, but
VOL. II. R

242 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
the level was much the same throughout, and
the river flowed sluggishly along the middle
of it. Carved stones, the remains both of
Hindu and Mohammedan architecture, were
scattered about in great numbers. We met
with but one inscription, and that was only
the name of the Emperor Jehangir. A small
rivulet, crossed on our way, was said to rise
about five miles off, by two branches, near
the second of which is a village called Jwala-
mukhi, where there is a spring considered
holy by the Hindus. After crossing the
stream we came to the town of Pampur, in
the Pargana of Vehu. This place is cele
brated for its saffron, which grows in the
neighbourhood on the driest spots in great
abundance. It has a bazar and two ziarats,
or tombs of holy men, Sheikh Baba and
Khaja Maksud. These are small low struc
tures, chiefly of wood, with a sort of wooden
spire, capped with brass. We stopped here :
our baggage was conveyed hither in boats,
which arrived soon after we did, and afforded
us shelter for the night.
The hills again approached the river,
along which we proceeded. After passing

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 243
Latapur we came to a sulphurous spring,
called Kshir Nag. There was nothing re
markable in the appearance or taste of the
water: it was tepid, and emitted a strong
odour of sulphur. A low, and nearly per
pendicular cliff on the left was pointed out
as a remarkable object. Zein ul abaddin,
having been defeated, it is said, and, flying
from the field, was hard pressed by his pur
suers, whom he escaped by urging his horse
up the steep face of this rock. Two marks
on the rock are shown as the impressions of
the horse's hoofs, and no Kashmirian passes
without making them a salam. About half
a mile further on we came to an interesting
ruin on our right. Like others of the same
kind, it is called by the peasants a building
of the Pandus, the heroic princes of Hindu
epic verse, but believed here to have been
giants. The edifice must have been a square
temple, with four doors, approached by broad
and spacious porches, and enclosed by a wall
with four gates opposite to the doors of the
central structure. A part of one of these was
still standing, but of the walls the founda
tions alone remain, and the temple itself is a
r 2

244 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
confused mass of ruins. The most remark
able feature of these remains was their mag
nitude. All the blocks were of immense
size, and many of them could not have
weighed less than ten tons. Many of them
also presented traces of most elaborate sculp
ture*. At the adjacent village of Wantipur f
we found similar remains, and here also one
of the gateways was nearly entire. This was
much richer than in the first edifice, and was
covered with ornaments, scrolls, and figures.
Two masses of stone on each side of the en
trance, and each supported by a single pil
lar, were of an extraordinary size. The
shape of the temple was undefined, and the
principal part of its fragments seemed to be
carved cornices or portions of the roof. The
stone of which these buildings were con
structed is a limestone, which is susceptible
of a high polish, and might be termed grey
marble. It is seen at Shahlimar, and other
places about the city, where the surface still

* Some drawings of these were made by Mr. Trebeck.— Ed.
t The Avantipur of the Chronicles of Kashmir, founded by
Avanti Varma, king of Kashmir in 876, who is recorded to have
built many temples and palaces.— Ed.

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 245
continues smooth and perfect. Here, how
ever, from long exposure, the surface has
become decomposed, so that the carving is
nearly or wholly effaced. It is scarcely pos
sible, however, to imagine that the state of
ruin to which they have been reduced has
been the work of time or even of man, as
their solidity is fully equal to that of the
most massive monuments of Egypt: earth
quakes must have been the chief agents in
their overthrow.
Beyond Wantipur we crossed the river of
Tral, as the district commencing at that vil
lage is called, and shortly afterwards a
second stream : both these come from the
north-east, and fall into the Behut. On our
right, at a distance of about fifteen miles, the
lofty crest of the Pir Panchal pass was vi
sible, but the breadth of the valley continued
much the same, several ranges of low hills
intervening between it and Pir Panchal.
The hills on our left, about eighteen hundred
feet high, were covered with snow. A con
siderable stream, the Arabal, descends from
Pir Panchal, and joins the Behut by two
branches. At the village of Wagahama we

246 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
entered the district of Dakhinpara, and
passed the Liddir, a stream which comes from
near the Ladakh pass of Zwaje La, or, at
least, from the snows which supply the rivu
let that enters the valley of Sonamurgh from
the south. Further on we crossed the Behut
by a sanga of some extent, but much de
cayed, where on either bank of the river
stood the town of Vijipara, or Bijbiara.
During the latter part of this day's journey
the soil, a stiff clay, was generally in cultiva
tion, and much less of it was covered by
pools and swamps than in the neighbourhood
ofthe capital.
Opposite to the town of Vijipara stood
what was once the garden of Dara Shekoh.
It had been laid out in the same manner as
the gardens of Shahlimar, Nishat, and others
in Kashmir, and consisted of little more than
a number of cross avenues or walks. Some
of the trees were still standing, and the
chenar trees especially were of stately size
and magnificent foliage. Along the centre
was a line of tanks, connected by a canal,
and there were also the remains of a small
brick palace or lodge.

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 247
About two miles farther on we came to the
junction of the two main branches of the
Behut, one coming from the north-west, and
the other from the south-east. The former
has several heads : the chief lies in the snows
at a place called Koka-nath in the district of
Brang, and about eight kos distant. It di
vides soon after its commencement into two
branches, forming an island between them of
some extent. The northern branch receives
a small river that rises in the mountains of
Koharpara more to the west. The southern
is joined by the eastern branch, the Shaha-
bad, or Vir-nag river, and the united stream
meets with the northern branches a little to
the north-east of Islamabad. The valley
here is about seven miles broad, and begins
to rise.
The town of Islamabad is built upon the
extremity of a long, low spur from the moun
tains to the east. At the foot of the slope is
a reservoir of a triangular form, in one corner
of which is a copious spring, yielding, per
haps, as much as two hundred gallons per
minute of a slightly sulphurous water : it was
cool and quite clear, though much gas es-

248 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
caped from it. On the side of the hill were
several tanks, supplied by a similar spring.
There were many fish in them, which are fed,
and were quite tame : they are considered
sacred, and never caught.
At Islamabad are three hundred shops of
shawl-weavers, and a coarse kind of chintz,
and a considerable number of gabbas, or
flowered patchwork cloths of the coloured
woollens of the country, are fabricated. It
was as filthy a place as can well be ima
gined, and swarmed with beggars, some of
whom were idle vagabonds, but the greater
number were in real distress.
On quitting Islamabad we crossed the
several eastern branches of the Behut, and
proceeded along the right bank of the Vira-
nag river, at a short distance from it, to where
the valley contracted to a breadth not exceed
ing a thousand paces, where stood the village
or town of Shahabad. This is the residence
of a Malik or chief, whose ancestors were per
sons of some consideration, being charged
with the military protection of the road to
Hindustan, by the pass of BannahaL until
they incurred the displeasure of their Durani

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 249
governors, and were reduced to comparative
insignificance. The superintendence of the
police, however, and the collection of the re
venue, are still held by the present Malik, and
he is said to exercise his authority more for
his own benefit than that of the district. We
were lodged in one of his houses ; the upper
part was enclosed by a lattice-work, the inter
stices of which scarcely admitted a finger,
and which, whilst allowing access to light and
air, effectually screened the rooms from in
spection from without. Shahabad had a bazar
and a few shops, at which provisions, coarse
cloth, and remarkably fine honey, were the
chief articles for sale.
We found a Sikh sirdar and some armed
men here, who had come to enforce the pay
ment of arrears of revenue due by the Malik.
It was supposed that he would evade present
payment by bribing the Sikh. Shahabad is
said to be twenty-three kos from the capital.
On the 10th of May we crossed the Vira-nag,
and following its left bank beyond where it
was divided into two branches, came at about
a mile and a half to the village and spring,
called also Vira Naga. The valley, in our

250 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
approach to this reputed source of the Hydas-
pes, retained its breadth, and extended some
way before us, when it appeared to terminate
in a narrow defile, beneath mountains streaked
with snow, and covered with dark forests of
fir. Passing through the village to the foot of
the western ridge, we arrived at a spring
which was at the foot of a hill covered with
low herbage and brushwood. After riding
along the edge of a rice-field, we came to a
large stream or brook, and some thick banks,
which were, in fact, the remains of the wall of
an extensive building. A little plat of grass
to the right was pointed out as the site of that
portion of the palace where the Emperor
Jehangir used to show himself to his courtiers.
Some yards beyond this a large body of water
was found gushing up close to the path. This
communicated by a subterranean drain with
a spring higher up. The main stream ran
within five or six paces of it, and was here
edged by the foundation and bases of arches,
near which it was said were the apartments
ofthe celebrated Nur Jehan. On turning to
the right we came to a watercourse of ma
sonry much dilapidated, conducting the main

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR 251
stream from the enclosure in which the spring
was situated. Round this an octagonal reser
voir of stone has been constructed, nineteen
fathoms broad, and said to be twenty yards
deep in the centre. It was full of clear still
water, the surplus of which passed off by the
aqueduct above noticed in a stream three yards
broad, and above two feet deep. Along the
side was a causeway, or walk, six feet broad,
on the outer edge of which were twenty-one
small arched alcoves, about twelve feet wide,
and six deep, and sufficiently high for a tall
man to stand upright in them. Above them-
appeared a mass of substantial brick-work,
now overgrown with grass, so that they, no
doubt, formed the basement-story of some
edifice: the whole was formerly faced with
stone, but the stones have been removed.
One over the entrance bears the name of
Jehangir, and the date of the construction of
this palace. As a summer residence the site
was well chosen. The mountains on either
side are low, verdant, and well wooded, and
are neither tame nor rugged. The valley has
here a gentle slope, and rises sufficiently for
this spot to command an extensive prospect

252 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
of the whole plain of Kashmir, watered by the
Behut, and bounded by the blue mountains
beyond the Wular lake.
Although the spring of Vira-nag is con
sidered sometimes as the source of the Behut,
yet that character appears to belong more
properly to the eastern branch, which, rising
by two heads, comes from the mountains in
the direction of east half-south, ten kos dis
tant. At Shahabad we were told of a won
derful cave in the hills to the west, at the
bottom of which flowed a rill, forming some
way within the cave a bath in a reservoir
constructed of stone. In the winter the ice
that was here formed was changed, it was said,
to solid crystal on being brought into the air.
The origin of this last story was, no doubt, the
formation of stalactites ; the rest of the ac
count we undertook to verify, and on our
return proceeded to ascend the face of the
mountains on our left.
On the way we crossed a considerable rivu
let coming from the hills. Bannahal, across
the same ridge, was about seven kos distant
by a crooked path. This place is included in
the Subah of Kashmir, but seems rather to

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 253
belong to the hill districts, as no pass of
consequence separates it from the Panjab.
Farther on we passed three springs, supply
ing a small brook, a feeder of the Behut, and
crossing this, we ascended the lower slope of
the hills, continuing for some way on the
Bannahal road. Here we found the prangos
growing abundantly, but the peasants were
ignorant of its value as winter provender for
their cattle : they applied it, however, to other
purposes of more equivocal benefit. Water,
in which the plant had been steeped, they
asserted destroyed snails, and the root rubbed
on the skin was a cure for the itch. Con
tinuing to ascend the hills, we managed,
although the ground was rough and broken,
to ride to within four hundred feet of the top.
There we alighted, and crossing a thick bed
of snow, came to the entrance of the cave of
Munda. The opening was only high enough
to admit a man on his hands and knees, and
a stream flowed from it sufficient to turn a
mill. Taking torches with us, we crawled
into it, and at about five yards came to a part
sufficiently lofty to allow us to stand. Our
attempt to advance was, however, frustrated,

254 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
by the bottom being entirely filled with water
more than mid-deep, the depth of which, as
ascertained by a stick, increased as it receded.
As far as we could discern, the passage con
tinued for above twenty yards, with a height
of from six to eight feet. How much farther
it penetrated the mountain we could not as
certain, but it seemed likely that it was
nothing more than a natural drain for the
waters of the mountain. These had now ac
cumulated in larger quantity than usual, as
the mouth of the cave had been blocked up
with snow. It had been partially cleared
away for our visit by order of the Malik, but
the quantity was too considerable to be wholly
removed, unless after some days' labour. Leav
ing Munda we descended to Shahabad.
On the following day we rode to Islamabad,
and on this occasion visited some remarkable
remains in its vicinity, on the top of the low
ridge or platform formerly noticed, and which
is called Karawe Matan. The summit of this
was for the most part perfectly level, and
commonly a mile in breadth, and according
to the report of the people of the country,
was formerly the site of a large city, the ca-

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 255
pital of Kashmir. Scattered over the ground,
indeed, we found fragments of mortar and
bricks, but no relics of any note till we came
to the end of the mound, where, at a distance
of about two miles from Islamabad, stood the
ruins we were in quest of. These from their
elevated situation were widely conspicuous,
and were of very remarkable extent and cha
racter. Like most of the architectural re
mains in Kashmir, they are termed Khana
Panduwa, a house or palace of the Pandus.
They consisted of a main building in the cen
tre of an open space, surrounded by a wall.
The central structure was composed of a body
and two small wings, the former about fifty-six
feet long by twenty-six wide, running east
and west, and twenty-eight feet high, was
divided into two chambers of different dimen
sions ; the western face comprised a large,
lofty, arched portal, with four carved pilasters,
two on each side; the eastern front had a
wide recess, occupied by a false doorway,
with an ornamental arch, and on the sides of
which were pilasters ; similar recesses deco
rated the northern and southern ends : oppo
site to these extremities also were the two wings

256 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
or chambers, connected formerly by a colon
nade with the centre. They were built with
massive walls, but the interior was not above
six feet square. On the inside of the enclosing
wall formerly extended a series of columns,
forming a sort of portico all round, and a
series of small chambers or cells ran along
its outer face. The whole was constructed of
stones of immense size and weight, embel
lished with elaborate sculpture. The roofs
had generally fallen in, but where remain
ing, were of large flat slabs of stone. The
walls were for the most part entire, their mas-
siveness having resisted not only time and
earthquakes, but the assaults of man : one of
the rulers of Kashmir, Sultan Hamadan, is
said to have attempted in vain to undermine
the edifice, or to destroy it by fire. It is for
tunate he was not acquainted with the use of
gunpowder. In its present condition the
palace of the Pandus is a precious specimen
of ancient art, and deserves a foremost place
amongst the remains of Hindu antiquity*.
From the Khana Panduwa we proceeded
to Bhuvan, a village about half a mile to the
* There are some drawings of this building also.— Ed.

CH. V.] AND PESHAWAR. 257
north-west, where two reservoirs are situated,
which are considered holy by the Hindus.
They appeared to have belonged to a palace,
the ruins of which were near them*: they were
from six to eight feet deep, filled with beauti
fully clearwater, and swarmed with tame fish.
They were surrounded by a rude dharm sala,
or building for the accommodation of travel
lers, erected recently, and tenanted by some
Brahmins. From hence we proceeded to our
boats, and floated with the current: above
the bridge the passage was difficult, and we
were often aground, but below it all was easy.
We anchored at Wantipur after midnight on
the 14th. On the 15th we repeated our visit
to the ruins we had first observed : their ef
fect was somewhat impaired by the greater
majesty of those at Karawe Matan, but they
were in the same style, and the work evidently
of the same period. We arrived at Panden-
than at three in the afternoon, and as no other
means of getting at the interior of the build
ing in the * tank were available, Mr. Trebeck
* More probably of a temple of Siva, who. as Tribhuvaneswara,
was at different periods prior to the twelfth century worshipped in
Kashmir. — Ed.
VOL. II. S

258 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
t
swam to it, in order to ascertain the nature of
the inscription which it was said to contain.
Nothing of the kind, not a single letter did it
present ; the interior was quite plain, with
the exception of a large lotus sculptured on
the roof. Nothing else occurring to delay our
return, we reached Dilawar Khan's garden
before sunset.

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 259

CHAPTER VI.
Countries in the neighbourhood of Ladakh and Kashmir — Ama-
ranath — Little Tibet — Balti — Skardo — Steppe of Deosu — Shi-
gar — Shingo — Tsungaru — Kafalun — Kartakshe — Nagar —
Hounz — Gilgit — Chilas — Lower Chitral — Upper Chitral —
Wakkan — Road to Yarkand — Kara-kol Lake — Kirghiz of
Pamer — Siri-kol — Tagarma.
Although unable to visit the countries which
intervene on the north and north-west, be
tween Ladakh and Kashmir on the south, and
the Karakoram mountains and Badakhshan
on the north, we had frequent opportunities
of communicating with the natives of those
regions, and gained from them various notices,
which, though not as particular, nor, perhaps,
as accurate as could be wished, yet may not
be unaccepfable in the absence of more au
thentic information.
Before, however, passing to those districts,
it may be as well to advert to a place which
s 2

260 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
ought, perhaps, to be considered as included
in Kashmir, and which lies in an angle be
tween it and Ladakh, south of the pass of
Zwaje La. This is the cave of Amaranath, a
place of reputed sanctity and pilgrimage. The
road to this cave proceeds from Bhuvan, along
the valley of the Lidder to Ganes Bal, so
called, it is said, from a rude stone figure,
which is supposed to represent the Hindu
divinity, Ganesa. It then continues to Pa-
halgam in Dakshinpara, and thence to the
Pesh-bal pass ; the latter part of the route is
uninhabited. Beyond the pass is the lake of
Sesh-nag, nine miles in circumference, and
giving rise to a number of rivulets which form
the Panch-tarang, or five-stream river; another
pass in the mountains, the Neza-bal, lies be
yond this, from which rises the Bhagavati
river, flowing into the Panch-tarang. Near
this is situated the cave of Amaranath, of
which the entrance is said to be one hundred
yards broad, and thirty high ; the depth of
the cave is five hundred yards. There are no
inscriptions in it, nor any sculpture ; but in
the most remote part of the cave, there is
said to be the figure of a Gosein, seated on a

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 261
pedestal, which figure increases and decreases
in size with the increasing and waning moon,
and at the conjunction entirely vanishes. It
is customary, therefore, to visit the cave only
about the full moon. The course of the
Panch-tarang is not exactly known, but it is
believed to pass into Ladakh, near Kartse.
Persons in the cave of Amaranath assert that
they can hear the barking of the dogs in Tibet.
To proceed, however, with the countries on
the north, it appears that those which lie
along the foot of the Karakoram mountains,
and which are included in Tibet, are Kar-
takshe, Kafalun, Kiris, Kardo, Shigar, Rundu,
Hasora, Nil or Nagar, and Hounz : of these,
all except the two last, wliich are independent,
are properly part of the principality of Balti,
or Baltistan. They have, however, chiefs of
their own, whose subordination to the prince
of Kardo, or Iskardo, which is usually re
garded as the capital of Balti, depends upon
his ability to enforce their allegiance.
The capital of Balti, or Baltistan, com
monly termed Skardo, Iskardo, or Kardo, is
more usually called in the country Sargar-
khoad. There are some vague traditions also

262 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
of its being named Iskandaria, and that it
was one of the cities founded by Alexander.
In the course of my correspondence with
Ahmed Shah, the ruler of Balti, I inquired if
any vestiges of Greek colonists were to be
met with, but it did not appear that any were
discoverable. Skardo is situated on the left
bank of the Indus, and consists of a fort, and
about one hundred and fifty houses, scattered
over a considerable tract on the south of
the river. The fort stands on the top of a
high rock, washed by the river, and is acces
sible on one face only. The river is about
three hundred yards broad, and very deep,
running with considerable velocity. The val
ley is about two miles broad, and is more fer
tile than any part of Ladakh. It is well sup
plied with wood, and orchards are abundant :
grapes, melons, plums, apples, pears, mul
berries, flourish, and the apricots, as already
observed, are of peculiar excellence, and when
dried are exported. The grains cultivated
are wheat and barley. Horses and ponies of
a serviceable description are bred. The
people are industrious and hardy, and the
Raja enjoys more political power than any of

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 263
the chiefs of Little Tibet. The people of
Balti are all Shiah Mohammedans. ,
The main roads from Ladakh and Kashmir
to Skardo, lead over an extensive and elevated
steppe, or plain, called by the Kashmirians,
Deosu, the plain of the gods. It is bare of
trees, but covered with coarse grass and Tar
taric furze. It is surrounded by mountains,
or rather appears to be a sunken table-land,
uniting the different ranges from which va
rious streams are formed, and cross the
plain in different directions. One as large
as the Dras river runs to the north-west,
and joins the Indus on the west of Kardo,
and another flows westward, into the river
of Hasora. Two others, the Marpo and
Nakpo, or red and black rivers, flow to the
south-east, and meet to form the Shingo river,
which falls into the Dras river, shortly before
the latter enters the Indus. These streams
are partly fed by the plain itself, as snow lies
upon it the greater part of the year, melting
entirely not more than two months at the end
of the summer.
Upon the eastern edge of the Deosu are
the villages of Shigar and Shingo, subject to

264 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Kardo, and comprehending not more than
thirty-five or forty houses. There is another
Shigar, a fort, and large village in a different
position, lying, it is said, ten kos north-west
from Kardo. On the western border of the
steppe lies Tsungaru, or Hasora, the country
of which is contiguous to Garets, a district
sometimes comprehended in Kashmir. The
town of Hasora consists of about three hun
dred houses, defended by a fort, and stands in
the middle of a plain. The country, though
mountainous, is fertile, and the grapes are
celebrated. Some trade from Gilgit and
Yarkand passes through Hasora, and many
Kashmiri weavers have settled there and ma
nufacture coarse shawls and shawl-cloth. The
people are Shiahs, but are Tibetans, and speak
the language of Tibet. The Raja is nomi
nally subject to Ahmed Shah, and assisted
him, not long before, to repel a predatory at
tack of the Afghans. A river rising on the
edge of the Deosu runs past Hasora, and
then turns south to join that of Muzeffarabad.
The united stream flows into the Behut.
Kafalun is a province west of Nobra, on
the left bank of the Shayuk : it formerly be-

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 265
longed to Ladakh, but was taken possession of
by Ahmed Shah. The same was the case
with Kartakshe immediately south of Kafa
lun, along the northward arm of the Sinh-
kha-bab. This is also called Kara-tag, Black-
mountain, from the dark colour of its hills.
The chief village consists of about a hundred
houses, and a fort situated on a conical rock
close to the right bank of the river, which is
crossed by a swinging bridge. Kiris is a
small state on the road between Kafalun and
Balti, on the right bank of the Shayuk river.
Nagar, or Burshal, is a small state lying on
the road from Skardo to Gilgit, and consists
chiefly of a valley of about three days' journey
in length, and six or eight miles broad. It is
watered by a river which joins the river of
Gilgit, and on the banks of which stands the
town, with a fort as usual upon a hill. Much
snow falls and fuel is scarce. The grains
reared are wheat and barley ; grapes and
melons are plentiful and excellent. Gold is
found in the river. The people are called
Dungars, and the Raja is independent. Be
yond Nagar, and nearer to the Pamer moun
tains, is the district of Hounz, also inhabited

266 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
by Dungars. Kanjut is the name of the
capital, which is the residence of Selim Shah.
From this province a difficult pass leads across
the mountains to Badakhshan.
Proceeding to the westward, we come to the
district of Gilgit, inhabited by Dardus *. The
chief town is situated on a plain, three or four
kos broad, and eleven or twelve long. It is
bounded by mountains of moderate elevation,
well wooded, on which snow rarely lies. The
chief town is washed by a river which rises in
the Pamer mountains, and after receiving the
river of Hounz, falls into the Indus. The
town stands on the right bank, and consists
of about three hundred houses. The people
speak a peculiar language, and are of the
Shiah persuasion, mixing the Mohammedan
creed with many local superstitions. Accord
ing to their notions, the races of men, of all
at least that they have any knowledge of, — the
Tibetans, the Kashmirians, the people to the
north-west of Gilgit, and the Dards, — are de-
* Few people can be traced through so long a period in the same
place as these, as they are evidently the Daradas of Sanscrit Geo
graphy, and DaradaB, or Daradrse of Strabo. They are also, no
doubt, the Kafers of the Mohammedans, although they have of
late been nominally converted to Islam. — Ed.

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 267
scended from four angels, named Makhpun,
Shameru, Khyrullah, and Malika. On his
death a Dard goes to heaven ; but as the gate
is guarded by a Kashmirian, who would pro
bably refuse to admit him, the corpse is pro
vided with a bow and arrows, with which, if
necessary, he may fight for entrance. A Dard
who can afford it does little bodily labour, but
employs for the purpose slaves who have been
carried off in some inroads on their neigh
bours. The chief cultivation is of rice, under
the management of Kashmirians. Cotton and
silk are reared for domestic use ; and a sub
stantial cloth is manufactured, of which the
warp is of silk, and the woof of cotton, of wool,
or of tus. Shawl-wool comes from Pamer and
Yarkand, and tus is obtained in the country.
Gold is found in the sands of the river, and
gold-dust forms the only currency. The Raja
receives a small sum from every one who
searches for gold, one-twentieth of the rice-
crop, and a present from every man who
marries, or who has a child. Grapes are
abundant and excellent, and wine is drunk in
considerable quantity. There is abundance

268 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [ PART III.
of fruit, especially of mulberries, figs, pome
granates, walnuts, and melons.
The same race of people, the Dards, oc
cupy the country to the south-west of Gilgit,
or Chilas, also called Dardu Chilas. This is
situated in the valley watered by the Gilgit
river, and the town stands on the left bank.
It consists of about a thousand houses, and
contains four forts, each tenanted by a sepa
rate chief, who, although absolute over his
own personal retainers, is associated with the
other three in the government of the state.
They pay a nominal obedience to the chief
of Gilgit, sending there an annual present.
The language and costume are the same as
at that place, but Pushtu is generally under
stood. The Dards were originally Kafers, or
infidels, but have latterly professed Moham
medanism : they are, however, but indif
ferent Mohammedans. The hills that skirt
the valley are low and well wooded. The
main crop is wheat, rice is not grown. Cot
ton and silk are reared for home consump
tion. Westward from Gilgit is the country of

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 269
Chitral, distinguished as Upper and Lower.
The latter, which is nearest to the Hindu
Kosh, is situated on a river flowing from a
lake called Hanu-sar, and ultimately falling
into the river of Kabul. The country is
rough and difficult. The Mastuch, as the
capital is termed in the language of the
country, is situated on the left bank of the
river. It contains a bazar, with some Hindu
shopkeepers, and is as large as Mozeffara-
bad, containing between four and five hun
dred houses : slavery prevails here. The
people are Dardus and Dungars, and profess
the Shiah faith. The Raja, who is a Suni,
is known to the Afghans as the Raja of
Kator. The Mastuch, or capital of Upper Chitral,
is situated in the same valley as that of
Lower Chitral, at about three days' march,
and about thirty miles north - west from
Gilgit. It stands upon a river, and consists
of about four hundred houses, with a fort, on
a moderately extensive plain, from whence
roads lead to Peshawar, Badakhshan, and
Yarkand. The mountains in the neighbour
hood are bare, and much snow falls: the

270 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
climate, however, upon the whole, is tempe
rate. Some traffic takes place with Badakh-
shan and Yarkand, whence pearls, coral,
cotton baftas, and chintzes, boots and shoes,
and metals are imported: horses are also
brought, and tea, but the latter is not much
in use. The chief return is in slaves, kid
napped from the adjacent districts, or, when
not so procurable, the Raja seizes and sells
his own subjects. Soliman Shah, the Raja,
resides chiefly at Yasin, which is not so large
as the capital, but is better situated for the
command of the country. He is of the Suni
sect, but the people are mostly Shiahs. They
are Dungars, and speak the Dardu language,
but Persian, Turkish, and Pushtu are gene
rally understood. The men are a tall, ath
letic race, but exceedingly cowardly. The
women are coarse, and by no means reserved
in their conduct, to which the men are indif
ferent. The heads of the Dungars are, in
general, of a conical form, it being usual to
tie a strong band round the head of an infant
soon after birth. West from Yasin is the
Darband, or fortified pass, of Chitral. The
grains cultivated are wheat and barley. Fruit

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 271
is abundant, especially grapes, from which
much wine is manufactured. According to
tradition Chitral was the Sharab-khana, or
wine-cellar of Afrasiab.
On ascending the Belut Tag mountains to
wards Badakhshan, the first place of note is
Panja, the capital of Wahkam, a district
partly subject to Badakhshan, partly to Yar
kand. It is situated on the Panj river, the
main branch of the Oxus, which rises by two
heads, one in the Pamer mountains, and one
from the direction of Mastuch. The houses
are built of stone, and the town is defended
by a stone fort, which successfully resisted
an attack of the Chinese. Yaks are common
here, as is a race of hardy ponies. The re
venue of the chief is principally derived from
slaves, who are sold from his own people at
his pleasure.
The road to Yarkand proceeds along the
Panj river to a large lake, from which it
rises. A projecting mountain separates this
from the Kara-kol, or black water lake,
which is about the size of the Dal of Kash
mir, and gives rise to a river that passes by
Siri-kol, and joins that of Yarkand. In the

272 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
lake is a small islet, on which stands a house
decorated after the Tibetan fashion, with
yaks' heads and tails on poles, and with
flags. According to the belief of the people
this islet is the resort of Jins and Peris.
Lamps are seen burning upon it, horses are
heard to neigh, and the sounds of music are
distinguished as from a naubet khana. At
times it is dangerous to approach the edge of
the lake, as it is displeasing to the myste
rious frequenters of the island. Confiding in
this superstition the Khaja of Kashkar, re
treating from the Chinese, is said to have de
posited his treasures in the islet, and they re
main there inviolate.
The Kirghiz, who inhabit the Pamer
mountains, are a simple and superstitious
race. They profess Mohammedanism, but
practise few of its precepts. They live in
felt tents, and have large flocks of the large-
tailed sheep, goats, and yaks, hardy, though
small horses, and some camels. Gillim Bai,
one of their chiefs, was said to possess from
thirty to forty thousand sheep and goats, five
hundred yaks, and between two and three
hundred camels. He resided in a house sur-

CH. VI.] AND PESHAWAR. 273
rounded by one hundred cottages of his de
pendants. The people are easily gratified,
and a present of a small quantity of tobacco
will readily procure supplies of milk, meat,
kaimak, a sort of cream, and felts of their
own fabrication. The country abounds with
wild goats and deer, the horns of which are
turned to various useful purposes.
Sir-i-kol, or the district at the head of a
lake, is also the name of a town of about
three hundred houses, chiefly inhabited by
Tajiks. It is situated on a plain, along
which flows the river, with mountains beyond
it. On one of these are the remains of a
building, said to have been a fort in the days
of Afrasiab. The chief town of the district
of Sir-i-kol is Tagarma, which, as well as
the preceding, is under the authority of the
Chinese*. * Some further information respecting Balti and the adjacent
countries has been recently collected by Capt. Wade. — Journ. As. •
Society of Bengal, Nov. 1835 ; also by Mr. Vigne, who has lately
visited Iskardo. See the same Journal for Feb. 1 836. — Ed.

VOL. II.

274 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.

CHAPTER VII.
First departure from Kashmir — Patan — Ruins — Wular Lake —
Explosions — Tomb of Shukar-ad-din — Baramula— Bamba and
Khaka Country — Gilgil — Party detained — Return — Second de
parture — Remains at Khampur — Shupien — Tomb of Shah Ha-
madan — Pir Panchal Pass — Ridge of Ratan Panchal — Rajaor
— Bimber — Jelum — Fort of Rotas — Manikyala — Rawal Pindi
— Garden of Wah — Hasan Abdal — Tomb of Baba Wali— Plain
of Chach— Indus — Attok — Khairabad — Akora — Duties de
manded — Attempt to detain the party — Its failure — Abbas khan
of Akora — Battle of Noushehra — Peshawar— Hospitable recep
tion—Mischief done by the Sikhs— Navigation of the Indus-
Political Difficulties and Dissensions — Offer of Allegiance —
Visit to the Waziris.
After many vexatious delays we accom
plished all that was requisite for our further
progress, and on the 31st of July we quitted
our residence in Kashmir for the purpose of
travelling to Bokhara. Our party had been
considerably augmented, for besides an addi
tion to our escort, making it thirty in number,
we were accompanied by our Ladakh friend,
Shah Nyaz Khan, and by Mirza Jawad, a
Persian envoy of the King of Ferghana. We
were to proceed by water to Baramula, and
our flotilla consisted of fourteen boats; our

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 275
party comprehended, possibly, the greatest
variety of nations that ever marched together,
enrolling English, Hindustanis, Gorkhas, Ti
betans, Afghans, Persians, Kashmiris, Kurds,
and Turks, in its ranks.
The afternoon was far advanced before we
started. We passed along the Dragjan canal,
and entered the Behut, opposite the north
east angle of the fort of Sher-gerh. As we
passed, the fort had as imposing an appear
ance as possible given to it. The Dewan and
his court were in one of the most conspicuous
apartments, and sentinels were stationed at
most of the windows; the bridges were co
vered with spectators, and our course was re
tarded by boats with beggars coming to pray
for our welfare, and to solicit a reward for
their benedictions. We reached Chatan-bal,
just beyond the town, shortly before sunset.
On the 1st of August, leaving the boats to
proceed to the village of Patan, we mounted
our horses to ride to that point. We had not
gone far beyond the position of Shala-ting
before our road passed the edge of a swamp,
along a narrow ridge of turf, which trembled
under the horses' tread ; the marsh, however,
t 2

276 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
had a firm clay bottom, and was the work of
a small river, the Haratirth, which must
have overflowed its banks higher up in its
course, and laid the lower fields under water : ,
a few drains would soon have restored the
soil to cultivation, of which we were in
formed it was once the site. The Haratirth
is navigable. We continued close to it till
we were on a line, passing between the vil
lages of Shadehpur and Sumbhelpur, when
we crossed it by a sanga. About a mile
further on we crossed a second stream, and
came to Hanjiwar, a large village on its right
bank, not far from the edge of the plain.
From hence we reached Patan by a rather
circuitous route early in the afternoon : we
passed on our way a couple of ancient Hindu
buildings, similar in style to the remains at
Matan, though something ruder, smaller, and
much less entire.
A low ridge or platform extends from the
south-west of the valley close to Patan. The
summit of the platform was a plain which
had once been cultivated, as was evident by
the remains of canals for irrigation. It was
now bare and unproductive. From the top

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 277
an extensive and beautiful view was com
manded of the valley.
We started in our boats on the morning of
the 2nd, after having been tormented through
the night by musquitoes, and after passing
along the track of the Nambal for about an
hour, came upon the line of the Hiratirth
river, after it had been joined by the Hanji-
war rivulet : it then takes the name of the
Takwala-bal, from a small village of that
name. According to the information there
received, the river rises about ten miles off,
from a spring called Sukh-nag, situated on
the southern edge of the valley, in the per-
gana of Birual. Following the direction of
the river, we arrived early at a village and
shrine, called Naid Khai, standing amidst
much swampy ground, and from hence the
same surface continued until we were actually
in the Wular Lake, at a part of it called
Tsako. The surface of the water was like a
green field, with the sinhara plant, and occa
sionally a few lotuses.
As it was commonly asserted that loud ex
plosions were frequently heard from the hill

278 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
on which stood the Ziarat of Shukar-ad-din, we
determined to land and visit it. It was with
some reluctance that our boatmen consented
to row for this point, asserting their apprehen
sion of violent gusts of wind, which, certainly,
we were not in trim to encounter. On ascend
ing to the summit ofthe hill we passed through
a ruined door- way to a level platform, on
which stood three ill-constructed buildings of
wood recently set up. From this a few steps
led to the Ziarat of the saint, a small confined
chamber, with a tomb covered by wooden lat
tice-work. Close without, to the westward,
were two hovels, one said to have been an an
cient mosque, and the other covering a trench,
sunk into the rock, just large enough for a
man to lie down in. Shukar-ad-din, it is re
ported, spent twelve years in this hole. A
brass-headed pike, said to have been his walk
ing-staff, his koran, and his chaplet of beads
of clay, brought from Kerbela, are shown to
the people who visit the place of his inter
ment, and who not only press them to their
lips with pious fervour, but besmear their
faces with sand adhering to a pair of old clogs

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 279
which Shukar-ad-din is said to have worn,
exclaiming " La Allah il Allah," — there is no
God but God.
There was nothing on the hill that looked
like a crater ; but the people on the spot as
serted their recollection of sudden explosions,
in one of which, not very long ago, the door
of the Ziarat and one of the windows were
torn off. The noise was sudden, but as loud
as the report of a cannon, and alarmed the
whole neighbourhood. According to the su
perstitious notions of the Kashmirians, these
noises precede and announce some political
change. The hill commanded a fine view of
the lake and plain of Zeinnagar : a storm had
come on, but by keeping within the line of the
Sinhara, we rowed along the edge of the Wular
without being incommoded, and arrived at
Supur in safety a few minutes after sunset.
Having halted during the 3rd at Supur, we
proceeded on the next day to Baramula. The
channel of the river was winding, but less so
than in the higher parts of its course. Above
the village of Daba it was joined by the Lala
koal, or Pohru river. Below Baramula, where
we anchored, we found ourselves once more

280 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
amongst mountains. The distance from hill
to hill was not more than three hundred and
fifty yards, of which the Behut occupied about
seventy. Baramula is situated on the right
bank of the Behut, and consists of about two
hundred houses, with a bazar and a custom-
station : a wooden bridge is laid across the
river, but when we saw it one of the piers had
been removed, and the communication with
the left bank was cut off. Below the town
the whole space between the river and the
mountains is closed by a wooden rampart and
folding gates. In the time of the Afghans a
strong guard was posted at this place, and the
gateway was kept in good repair. It was
now ruinous, but about five hundred Sikh
soldiers were quartered in a Dharmasala, an
old Ziarat, or Mohammedan shrine, and in a
small fort on the left bank of the river, at the
head of the bridge. On the same side of the
river is another village, that of Jambaspur,
where numbers of Hindus come to bathe in
the collected waters of the sacred streams of
Kashmir. There is little land about the place
fit for cultivation, and the hills, although
covered with brushwood, bear no trees.

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 281
We were detained several days at Bara
mula in collecting provisions for our route, as
a letter from Zabardast Khan, the chief of
Muzeffarabad, addressed to Surat Sinh, in
timated no disposition to give any orders for
our accommodation. The tone, indeed, was
so hostile to the Sikhs, that it was evident the
Sinh's company could be of no use to us, and
might expose him to insult or danger : we
therefore dispensed with his attendance, a
measure in which he cheerfully concurred,
and determined to trust for security to our
own character and conduct.
On the 10th of August we resumed our
march, proceeding to the south-west along the
bed of the river, the current of which became
not only much more rapid than on the table
land, but more troubled and impetuous, la
menting, according to the Kashmirians, in
foam and clamour, its departure from their
beautiful valley. Across it, and close upon
our left, a chain of low, but steep hills, run
ning towards the east, left the Behut, skirting
a fine plain, bounded by ridges of low hills
covered with wood. The scenery was very
beautiful, and ofthe character of that of many

282 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
parts of Wales. A village, and the small fort
of Fattihgerh, were observable on the plain,
at the distance of about a mile and a half.
The plain is bounded on the south by hills
which approach close to the river, beyond
which are the fragments of a ruined wall and
gateway. These mark the limits of Kashmir ;
and the country on the right bank of the river
thence belongs to the Bambas, and that on
their left to another highland clan, the Kha-
kas. As we proceeded, the valley became
more confined, and the thicket which covered
the hills descended close to the path : the wild
vine, pomegranate, pear, mulberry, raspberry,
and blackberry, were in abundance the whole
way. There did not appear to be much land
in cultivation, and the chief crop seemed to
be rice: grass was scarce. We encamped
in the shade of some fine elms, near a small
village called Paruna, the residence of a Pir-
zada and his followers.
Early on the 11th we passed the house of
Ghulam Ali Khan, the chief of the Khakas,
but at that time a prisoner at Lahore. It stood
on the left bank of the river, within an enclo
sure surrounded by a wall and bastions, with

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 283
loop-holes for musketry. It was of no great
strength. The valley was of irregular width,
but in general narrow. In some places the
hills approached so near as to give the idea
of a passage through a door. The path lay
upon a ledge of the mountain, rising perpen
dicularly from the river, which at some dis
tance below was rushing along with increased
and increasing impetuosity. The mountains
were granite ; they were covered with forests,
and several considerable rivulets rushed from
their sides into the river. Near the end of the
day's route, which terminated at the Manzil
Khana of Gilgil, a station where travellers
may purchase provisions* we crossed a rivulet
coming from the west and north. Not far
from its conflux with the Behut it was formed
of two branches, the larger and more north
erly of which was said to proceed from a large
spring which gives rise to two other streams,
one taking the direction of the Lala-koal, and
the other that of Kathae. The spring is known
by the name of Nil-nag, and is held sacred by
the Kashmirians. It was said to be twenty
kos distant; but the road is circuitous, and
the horizontal distance cannot be much more

284 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
than eight miles from where we encamped.
The chief of the Bambas, Muzeffar Khan, had
a house, called Nun Khoa, a short way up the
rivulet on its left bank.
Whilst on our march, during the 11th, we
observed several small parties of armed men
near our road, but had not taken particular
notice of them. On arriving at our station,
however, we found a considerable number,
above a hundred, assembled, whose appear
ance was not of the most friendly character.
From amongst these a person of the name of
Nidan Pandit, the agent of the Sultan, came
to ils, and announced the approach of the Sul
tan's son, who shortly after came. He was a
lad of about twelve or fourteen. In the con
versation that ensued, his attendants pro
fessed entire allegiance to Ranjit Sinh, and
their consequent readiness to promote our ob
jects. They held themselves in some degree
responsible for our safety, and could not, there
fore, consistently with duty, advise our further
progress, as Zabardast Khan, of Muzeffar
abad, was in open insurrection, and would,
no doubt, offer us some violence. Thanking
them for their counsel, we acquitted them of

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 285
all responsibility, but announced our deter
mination to proceed. It was then intimated
that we must remain where we were until
orders could be received from the Khan, who
was in the hills ; but with this we declined
compliance, as expedition was an object of
importance, and we saw no necessity for wait
ing for instructions, which it was evident must
already have been received. One of the most
important of the persons present, Shir Mah-
mud, then remarked, that we must pay duty
on our goods ; with which we professed our
willingness to comply to any reasonable ex
tent, and -there the discussion rested for the
night. On the following day Shir Mahmud ap
peared to claim the duties, and for a long time
hesitated to state any fixed amount ; at last
he had the modesty to make a demand of fif
teen thousand rupees, as being likely to effect
a clearance, and hinted that a refusal to pay
the money would be followed by the plunder
of our baggage. To resist this our party was
drawn up under arms, and an offer of five
hundred rupees was made, with a declaration,
that if this was not accepted, we should irame-

286 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
diately return to Kashmir, as, whilst we ad
mitted we had no right to traverse the district
in defiance of the authorities, we stated that
we were resolved not to submit to imposition,
nor to suffer aggression. Matters remained
thus in suspense, the Bambas showing no dis
position to accept our terms, nor to proceed
to extremities ; and it appeared probable that,
as they professed to acknowledge the autho
rity of the Sikhs, the interposition of the
Dewan of Kashmir might not be without
weight. Accordingly the Mirza and Mr. Tre-
beck mounted their horses and rode off to
Kashmir, to apply for the aid of Moti lal, ex
pecting to reach the city by the following
evening. At Baramula, however, they were
met by Surat Sinh, who had been reprimanded
by the Dewan for leaving us, and had been
sent after us with all possible expedition, and
with orders to accompany us to Muzeffarabad.
With him, then, we returned to Tatthamula,
the place where our party had remained.
Surat Sinh went on to Gilgil. In the even
ing a letter came to him from Muzeffar Khan,
giving up all claim to duties on our merchan
dise, but refusing to extend the same indul-

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 287
gence to the persons who were with us, none
of whom, however, had any property subject
to duty except, perhaps, Mirza Jawad ; and
to judge from the bulk of his baggage he could
have had nothing of consequence. The ge
neral tone of the letter was decidedly un
friendly. On the 14th Surat Sinh returned, and, from
what had occurred, was by no means disposed
to augur favourably of the result. The Sultan
was almost in a state of rebellion, and Zabar
dast Khan was declaredly so. He had recently
beheaded his wazir, a Sikh who he suspected
was in the interest of Ranjit Sinh, had col
lected about two thousand armed men at
Muzeffarabad, and had broken down the
bridges on the road. Muzeffar Khan had also
about one thousand armed men, and it would
have been idle to have attempted to force our
way ; we therefore decided on returning, and
despatched Surat Sinh with a letter to the
Dewan, to apprize him of our determination.
Our envoy, however, soon surprised us by his
reappearance : at Baramula he had been met
by two ' Kasids from Moti Ram, urging us
strenuously to come back immediately, and

288 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
expressing great alarm at the danger to which
we had been exposed. With his injunctions,
therefore, we immediately complied, and on
the 15th of August arrived at Baramula, on
our way back to Kashmir.

In resuming the purpose of departure from
Kashmir we had the choice of two routes —
one by Prunch, the other by Rajaor. The
former was the more difficult and circuitous,
and the country was in an unsettled state, and
we therefore made choice of the latter. We
awaited, however, the close of the rains, which
are very heavy on the borders of the Panjab,
and did not, consequently, set out again until
the 17th of September: our party was much
the same as before.
After crossing the river and passing by
Shergerh, we came immediately to the Dudh
Ganga, running parallel to the Behut. It
then comes from the south, and our road con
tinued at no great distance from its right bank.
Our day's march terminated at about four
miles from the city, at the ruined Serai of Ali

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 289
Maidan Khan, called Kampur or Kanikpur *.
The building resembles those of a similar kind
in Hindustan, but is very substantially con
structed, and although it was now in ruins, it
could afford shelter to more than a hundred
people. The adjacent country is one of those elevated
platforms or tables which protrude at various
places from the bases of the bordering moun
tains into the valley. These elevations have
now the inconvenience of being scantily sup
plied with water ; but this was not the case in
the better days of Kashmir, as they were then
intersected by canals, of which the remains
are still observable. The people in the neigh
bourhood of the serai were miserably poor,
and could furnish us with nothing but fuel.
The crops of rice looked well, and were ready
to be cut, but none of it could be reaped be
fore the permission of the government was
granted, and this was not expected to be given
until all the grain of the preceding year, which
had been distrained for revenue, had been
* A very ancient city according to the Chronicles of Kashmir.
Kanishkapur, founded by Kanishka, a king ofthe country, four or
five centuries before Christ. — Ed.
VOL. II. U

290 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
disposed of at an arbitrary and extravagant
price. The effect of these exactions is not
only the impoverishment of the people, but
their banishment from the country, and they
were every day emigrating in considerable
numbers. A party of five hundred was to ac
company us across the Pir Panchal.
Another short day's march, continuing on
the same platform, brought us to another
ruined serai, that of Shahji Marg. The inner
court of this had been converted by the pea
sants into a kitchen-garden ; but we found
protection from the rain in some of the cham
bers. The situation of the serai was well
chosen, and commanded a prospect rarely
more pleasing, perhaps, than at the present
season ; the broad band of rice in the valley
below was tinged with yellow, and was agree
ably contrasted with the dark green of the
groups of trees that concealed the wretched
ness of the village.
On the 26th we made a short march to the
town of Shupien, where we halted to purchase
provisions. In the time of the Afghans it was
said to contain above two hundred houses,
besides one hundred petty shops. Upon

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 291
hearing of the defeat of the Duranis by the
Sikhs, the inhabitants fled, and many never
returned, so that the place is not half in
habited. It was formerly the residence of
three brothers, of the family of the Malik,
each of whom received from the governor five
hundred loads of paddy annually, and was au
thorised to levy a tax of one rupee per maund
on common merchandise, and two rupees on
shawl-goods. One of the brothers, Mahmud
Ali, discontented with his situation, materially
facilitated the entrance of the Sikhs into
Kashmir. If he expected increased power
and profit by so doing, he was deservedly dis
appointed, for the management of the town
and district was conferred upon a Sikh who
contracted for the revenue : he falling into
arrears, was imprisoned and beaten so unmer
cifully, that he died, and the district is unlet.
In the mean time a thannadar and a hundred
men are stationed at Shupien.
Having remained a day at Shupien, we pro
ceeded on our journey, and at a short dis
tance came to the Ziarat of Shah Hamadan,
remarkable for a large flat stone which it con
tains, and which is an object of profound ve-
u 2

292 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
neration to devout Musselmans. It is said
that when the saint had arrived on the crest
of Pir Panchal, on his way to Kashmir, his
horse was too much fatigued to proceed, and
the Shah was at a loss what to do. In this
dilemma a piece of the rock volunteered to
convey him to the plain, and this stone is the
carriage that presented itself. Part of it, sup
posed to be the impression of his foot, has
been completely polished by the contact of
thousands of the hands and lips ofthe faithful.
Beyond this the road became uneven, and at
times difficult, passing between the low hills
forming the commencement of the pass. Close
below flowed the river of Shoingulu, or Shu
pien, which rising on the northern slope of
the boundary mountains by different rivulets,
crossed our path repeatedly, and proceeds
from hence through the perganas of Batu,
Suprasaman, and Shakuru, to the Behut near
Viranag. It was near this place that Jabar
Khan, the Afghan general, was posted, with a
detachment of horse to oppose the Sikhs.
Instead of waiting for their attack he crossed
the rivulet, and ascended the heights beyond
it to meet them, where his cavalry could not

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 293
charge, and were driven back with loss by the
fire of the enemy. Farther on we passed
through the small and dirty village of Hira-
pur, where is a custom-house. The path
alternated with descents and ascents, but was
upon the whole ascending, and along a narrow
valley, bounded by steep mountains. We
halted at Dubjan, on a level with some re
cently fallen snow, and on an elevation com
manding a view of the valley of Kashmir.
Hirapur was the place where the Malik
Mahmud Ali was stationed with his soldiers,
with whom, instead of resisting, he joined the
Sikhs, and acted as their guide. The num
ber of Kashmirians who were to accompany
us over the mountains proved here to be no
exaggeration, and their appearance, half-
naked and miserably emaciated, presented a
ghastly picture of poverty and starvation.
Yet, wretched as they were, the relentless Sikhs
would have levied a pice a head for permis
sion to pass the post, had we not interfered.
The Sikhs seem to look upon the Kashmi
rians as little better than cattle. The murder
of a native by a Sikh is punished by a fine to
the government, of from sixteen to twenty

294 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR LPART IIL
rupees, of which four rupees are paid to the
family of the deceased if a Hindu, and two
rupees if he was a Mohammedan. The body
of a stout young man, whose throat had been
cut, was lying close to the road on one part of
this day's journey, and the only notice taken
of it was by Mardan Ali, the Malik, who ordered
it to be covered with grass, that our porters
might not be frightened at the sight. Three
other bodies were met with on the route;
these were some of the followers of Jawahir
Mal, who, to the number of forty-five, it was
asserted, had perished in crossing the pass
lately, in rough and cold weather, against
which they were ill defended by clothing or
shelter. Some of the people accompanying
us were seized by our Sikhs as unpaid por
ters, and were not only driven along the road
by a cord tying them together by the arms,
but their legs were bound with ropes at night
to prevent their escape. At Dubjan, Ata
Mohammed Khan, governor of Kashmir, en
countered the Afghan Wazir, Fateh Khan,
and was defeated.
On the following day the road commenced
on the slope of a grassy hill, five or six

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 295
hundred feet above the rivulet: on our left
were two small towers erected as defences by
Ata Mohammed; they were named Kamil
Koth. Other towers were afterwards passed,
all erected by the same person. They were
all of a polygonal shape, built of stone, ce
mented with mud, and faced with mortar,
and pierced with loop-holes for musketry. At
the close a path of masonry, with a wall on
its outer edge, led up the almost perpendi
cular face of the mountain, called Lala Ghu-
lam, from a slave, whom Ali Mardan is said
to have sacrificed here, and interred under
the pavement : beyond this we halted, at a
serai, less dilapidated than usual, called Ali-
abad. About two miles of moderately ascending
and winding road brought us, on the 30th, to
the crest of the Pir Panchal pass, after leav
ing, about eight hundred yards below, the most
southerly sources of the Shupien river. On
the top of the ascent we found a tower and
some other small buildings, and poles with
votive offerings to the mountain spirits :
amongst them were two shawls presented by
the Diwan Moti Ram, when he had ascended

296 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
the pass on his way to the conquest of Kash
mir. The view from hence to the eastward, or
towards Kashmir, was very circumscribed;
but in the contrary direction was extensive
and beautiful. The atmosphere in the dis
tance was rather heavy, or we might have dis
tinguished the plains of the Panjab over an
immense surface, and the windings of the
Jelum. A party of Sikhs was stationed in
the tower, who ordinarily levy an unautho
rised capitation from every person leaving
Kashmir, besides plundering him of fuel and
provisions. On the descent the face of the mountain
was exceedingly steep and difficult, and ex
cept in the line of the path, was often imprac
ticable. After crossing a rivulet we ascended
the slope of an inferior ridge, and continued
about half way between their base and sum
mit to the village of Poshana, a place consist
ing of about fifty flat-roofed cottages of wood
and mortar, and situated on terraces, closely
though irregularly connected with each other.
The breadth of the valley from the summit of
one ridge to that of the other was not above

CH. VII,] AND PESHAWAR. 297
a mile. Pir Panchal and the succeeding
ridges appear to be granite.
From Poshana the road continued of a simi
lar description, and for part ofthe way passed
through a defile, varying from twenty to thirty
yards in breadth : at the end a few cottages
constituted the village of Doguren. Above it
is a low pointed hill, called Sheikh Kamal,
which was crowned by a pile of sticks and
rags. Less than a mile beyond this we arrived
at the hamlet of Behram Gala, where a
Thanna was stationed as a check upon a free
booter in this neighbourhood; in a recent
fray with whom the Thannahdar had been
severely wounded. A toll is here levied on
salt in transport to the northward, at the rate
of one rupee for a man's load : the annual
produce of this duty is said to amount to two
thousand rupees. The rivulet that had been
met with on descending the pass here runs
off to the west, and after passing the towns
of Paunch and Mirpur, enters the Jelum.
Our road on the 2nd of October lay over the
ridge of Ratan Panchal, to the south of west
from Pir Panchal. The country between these
two chains belongs properly to Prunch, or as

298 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
the Kashmirians pronounce the name, Pruntz.
South of the pass commences the district of
Rajaor, a part of which, called Durhal, ex
tends on the east nearly to Pir Panchal. The
ascent was easy, and passed through woods
of elms, yews, horse-chesnuts, &c. ; the view
to the south was extensive and rich, present
ing a succession of low hills and cultivated
valleys : descending the mountains, we en
tered the district of Thanna, which was well
cultivated with crops of rice and maize. The
valley is celebrated also for its breed of buffa
loes. The people seemed to be better off
than the Kashmiris, and in manners and
speech belonged to the Panjab : a very large
proportion of them spoke the Kashmiri dia
lect, and it seems not unlikely that they are
originally from thence. Kashmirian is the
language of the mountaineers of the two Pan-
chals. The town of Rajaor formed the limit of our
next day's march ; there was nothing on the
road particularly worthy of note. From some
spots the whole range of the Ratan Panchal
was in sight, and the peaks to the eastward,
where they seemed to unite with those of the

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 299
Pir Panchal, were much loftier than those
near where we had crossed, and were tipped
with snow. At Rajaor we were detained four
days by Mr. Trebeck labouring under indis
position, which confined him to the house.
We were lodged in the Raja's dwelling, a
substantial stone edifice, the interior of which
had been stripped of everything valuable by
the Sikhs. They had also demolished the
old wall of the city, which appeared to have
been of great solidity. The town stands upon
the side of a hill, and along the east runs a
small stream, called here the Malkani Tihoi*:
on the opposite side was a garden laid out in
imitation of Shahlimar, but it had been demo
lished by the Sikhs. The bazar is small,
but clean and well supplied.
The present Raja of Rajaor, Rahim Ullah
Khan, was the half brother of the preceding
Raja, Agar Ullah, who was now a prisoner
at Lahore. Ranjit Sinh had compelled him
to join his forces in his first and unsuccessful
attack upon Kashmir, the failure of wliich
he ascribed to Agar Ullah's treachery. Ac-
* This is called Makkali in the latest map of this part of the
Panjab by M. Court. (Jour. Asiat. Soc. of Bengal, Aug., 1836.)
In general, however, the map agrees with our text. — Ed.

300 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
cordingly, in revenge, he sent an overpower
ing force against Rajaor ; took, and partly
destroyed it, and, having captured the Raja,
threw him into confinement, and placed his
half brother in the Raj. Rahim Ullah was a
mild, good-humoured man, and treated us
with much kindness.
The country, though fertile, is unhealthy,
and fevers are very common : goitre and
leprosy are also frequent. The staple culti
vation is rice.
We quitted Rajaor on the 8th, and pro
ceeded on that and the two following days
along the course of the Tiho'i. On the 10th
we passed the serai of Naushehra, an exten
sive building of brick, faced at the gateways
with stone, and constructed so as to answer
the double purpose of a serai and a fort. It
was built by the Emperor Akbar, as an in
scription on the gateway records, but was
now in ruins. Shortly afterwards the Tiho'i
left us, turning off to the south-south-east, to
wards the town of Manavar, beyond which,
at a distance of four or five kos, it falls into
the Chinab.
On the 11th we crossed a ridge of low
hills, overspread with jungle amidst which

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 301
fir trees were numerous, called the Kaman
Ghosha, or, in a place more to the south, the
Shamshir-dhar, from the sharpness of the
summit compared to the edge of a sword.
The ascent was rough and laborious, but not
seriously difficult. After descending from
this line of hills we came, on the 12th, to a
similar range, called the Ali Dhak, or Katse-
. dhar hills. From hence a third low chain
was visible, of a height not sufficient to in
tercept the boundless plain which lay beyond
it, and afforded us the interesting prospect of
the wide and fertile level of Hindustan, the
termination of which seemed lost in the
misty atmosphere, which hung as a pale
dull curtain in the horizon. Descending the
Katse-dhar we crossed a sandy plain to the
town of Bimber.
The town of Bimber may be considered as
the head of a small Raj of that name, which
extends some distance beyond Naushehra
Serai. Its whole length does not exceed
twenty-five kos. It is bordered to the north
and north-east by Rajaor, to the east by the
district of Pauni Bharak, to the south by
Kotta and Jelalpur, and to the west by the

302 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
petty chiefship of Khari Khariali. It con
tains three towns, Bimber, Samani, and
Mangal-devi. The latter lies eight kos east
of Naushehra, and is the station of a strong
Sikh Thanna. The people of the country are
called Chibs, and were formerly Hindus, but
now mostly profess Mohammedanism : those
who are Hindus intermarry with the Moham
medans. The ruler, Sultan Khan, was a
faithful adherent of the Afghans, and when
Ranjit first attempted the invasion of Kash
mir he met with a spirited resistance from
the Bimber chief, and sustained a consider
able loss before his superior strength effected
the subjection of the district, and the capture
of its ruler. After a short interval Ranjit set
Sultan Khan at liberty, and restored to him the
town of Samani ; but he was again induced to
join the Afghans, and, being unsupported by
them, again became the prisoner of the
Sikhs. Ranjit Sinh, however, persisted in
his liberal policy, and, after detaining him
some time at Lahore, gave his prisoner
liberty, and replaced him in possession of a
moiety of his domains. Sultan Khan has
since continued obedient to his victor. He

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 303
lives near Samani, and enjoys a revenue of
sixty thousand rupees. The ancient town
was at the foot of a low hill,' to the northward
of the present. It was deserted soon after
the reign of Mohammed Shah, and the re
mains of its buildings are distinctly trace
able. The present town contains about one
thousand houses, low, and flat-roofed : about
one hundred and fifty are shops, but the
bazar is of no great importance. A rivulet
runs past the town, and falls into the Jelum
about four or five kos lower down.
The Raj presents a considerable extent of
flat, uncultivated land, rich in grass fit for
the scythe : no use, however, is made of it.
The spring crop is of wheat and barley, that
of autumn of maize and millet ; but the culti
vation is scanty, as the country is thinly
peopled. Hawking is a favourite amusement
both here and at Rajaor, and game of every
kind is abundant. This might be expected
from the face of the country, which consists
of low hills overrun with jungle. From the
same cause malaria prevails, and fevers of
every type are common, affecting even ani
mals, if current report can be believed.

304 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
We quitted Bimber on the 15th, and pro
ceeded over a level country, dry and sandy,
or, in those parts which were cultivated, a
mixture of clay and sand. The crops were
bajra and cotton, with a small quantity of
maize and pulse. Water is almost entirely
raised from wells by a clumsily-constructed
Persian wheel. The people of the country
were Mohammedans, but at the village of
Bhalani, where we halted, they were Hindu
Rajputs, and were idle, inhospitable, and ar
rogant. On the following day, October 16th, we
marched to the left bank of the Jelum, Behut,
or Hydaspes. Where we crossed it it was about
one hundred and fifty yards broad, but a few
paces both above and below the ghat its width
was at least six hundred. In the rains it
spreads over a much more considerable ex
panse; It was flowing at the rate of a mile an
hour, and its water, though slightly turbid, was
cool and well tasted, and it contains a quan
tity of fish, the Masahar, Rohu, and others
common in Hindustan : it is haunted, also,
by alligators. The Jelum is navigable from
hence to the Indus. We found several boats

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 305
at the river-side large enough to carry across
five or six horses with their loads at a trip,
but ill provided with oars, and sails seem to
be unknown. The soundings where we
crossed were from two to two fathoms and a
half. After crossing the river, and travers
ing a dry, sandy channel, filled by it in the
rainy season, we came to the town of Jelum ;
a town something larger than Bimber, but
worse provided with a market and accommo
dation. The only good workmen are boat-
builders, who fit the planks together with
great nicety. A small mud fort near the
town is the station of a Sikh Thana.
At the time of our arrival at Jelum, Ranjit
Sinh was in the field preparing to march, it
was said, towards the Indus. Surat Sinh,
who had accompanied us, went off to procure
the requisite passports, and several days
elapsed before he returned. We were then
delayed by difficulties in procuring cattle
and carriage, and it was not till the 13th of
November that we were able to resume our
journey. The Jelum is navigated upwards to Oin,
in the direction of Muzeffarabad, which is
VOL. II. x

306 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
said to be eighty kos distant ; from thence to
Baramula, where it leaves Kashmir, its course
is about thirty more. Oin is a village on the
left bank, forty-three kos from Jelum, to
which boatmen repair from the latter place to
procure timber, especially that of the Deodar,
brought down by the current from Kashmir.
The trunks of the trees are formed first into
small, and, as they descend, into larger rafts,
guided by poles and paddles. A practicable
road runs along both sides of the river,
although, in some places, it runs between steep
hills. Dan Gali, twenty-four kos from Jelum,
on the right bank, was the capital of the Ghi-
kar chief, who protected Humayun Shah in
his flight to Persia from the pursuit of his
victorious rival, Shir Shah. The site of the
ancient town is designated by extensive
ruins, but, apparently, none of any architec
tural merit. The present residence of the
chief of the Ghikars is Khanpur, about thirty
kos south-west from Muzeffarabad. The
latter is forty kos from Baramula, and is
situated on an eminence about two kos to
the north of the Behut, and east of the Mu
zeffarabad or Hasora river, which falls into

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 307
the former near this place. It is little infe
rior in size to the Behut at their point of
junction. It is called in our maps the
Kishen Ganga, but I could not learn that it
was known by this appellation in the coun
tries through which it flows, where it is com
monly termed the Hasora, or Muzeffarabad
river. It was formerly crossed by a substan
tial sanga, but this has been destroyed, and
a bridge of ropes substituted; but inflated
skins form a much more convenient and safe
mode of effecting a passage. The town of
Muzeffarabad consists of above three thou
sand houses, built in the same fashion as those
of Kashmir, and by Kashmirian artists. The
streets are narrow and dirty, but the bazar is
well supplied. The town is defended by a
fort, one angle of which abuts upon the left
bank of a curve of the river, but it is situated
low, and commanded by neighbouring heights.
Lofty mountains rise not far from the town
to the northward, and the snowy summits
of the Pir Panchal range, and of the most
elevated parts of Karnao are in sight. The
boundary of the Muzeffarabad country is be
tween that town and Gerhi Sadet Khan,
x 2

308 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
five kos to the west, which belongs to Dam-
taur. The population of Jelum is mostly Mo
hammedan, and the people, though much in
termixed with the Kashmirians, were much
darker and worse looking. Disease was ex
tremely prevalent : fevers are common here,
as in the neighbouring districts, in spring
and autumn, and leprosy was very exten
sive. Disorders of the alimentary canal and
calculus were also exceedingly common.
The face of the country is much broken by
ravines and irregular ridges. The soil is
clay, much intermixed with sand, and the
chief crops are wheat and barley : cotton is
also cultivated.
Leaving Jelum on the 13th of November,
we marched across a cultivated plain in a
north-westerly direction, to the foot of the
mound on which stands the celebrated fort of
Rotas, and traversed a narrow stony defile
with the fort close on the left, the base of the
walls being about sixty or seventy feet higher
than the pathway. The killadar refused to
admit us to see the fortress ; but riding along
its western face, we found several practicable

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 309
breaches in the walls, by one of which we as
cended and entered an abandoned outwork.
The structure was found to be most massive,
the walls, of stone cemented with mortar, being
in some places thirty feet thick,. They were
crenated throughout, and provided with a
double row of loop-holes. The outwork we
had scaled seemed intended to protect an im
mense bhauli or well of masonry. Passages
of great breadth wound round it to the bot
tom, communicating with it by arched open
ings into its sides, and they led to the water's
edge in so many places, that from fifty to a
hundred persons might draw water at once.
From this spot we entered into the body of
the fort, and ascended the highest part of the
parapet without attracting observation. The
interior of the fort extends about two miles
and a half. It is of a long, narrow form, and
its two sides and eastern end rest upon the
edges of ravines which separate it from a
table-land of equal elevation as the hill on
which it stands. The western face of the hill
has the Gham rivulet running along its foot,
the bed of which abounds with quicksands,
and must be dangerous to ford, at least in the

310 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART HI.
rains. The Sikhs have erected a small mud
fort within the principal gateway. Near the
fort are a serai, said to have been constructed
by Aurangzeb, and a garden enclosed by a
wall, attributed to Shir Shah. There was for
merly a Persian inscription over one of the
gateways of Rotas, recording the date of its
construction by Shir Shah, and denouncing an
imprecation upon any of his successors who
should suffer it to fall into decay. Zeman
Shah, it is reported, took offence at the tenor
of the inscription, and commanded it to be
effaced. The fort is said to have been erected
by Shir Shah to curb the predatory incursions
of the Ghikars.
Our road during the next four days lay over
a rough and broken country, which may be
regarded as generally a sandy plain, perpetu
ally intersected by deep and irregular dry
watercourses and ravines. Occasionally vil
lages and cultivation were passed, but not of
any great extent ; the only trees visible were
the mimosa and beir ; but there was abund
ance of brushwood and jungle. On the 18th
we diverged a short way from our route, in
order to visit the Tope of Manikyala, which we

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 311
found to correspond with the description given
by Mr. Elphinstone, except that it was much
more decayed. We could gain no satisfactory
information of its origin, but it has not at all
the character of a Grecian edifice. It has a
much greater resemblance to the monumental
structures ofthe Tibetans. The people ascribe
it to superhuman beings, and one man pointed
out some large stones which he conceived
could not have been raised into their actual
position by merely mortal strength. They
were, however, but pebbles compared with the
blocks we had seen in the ruined buildings of
Kashmir, and the workmanship was equally
inferior. The village of Manikyala, so named, it was
said, from a prince Manik, is situated about
four hundred yards to the north. The people
universally asserted that this had been the
site of an immense city, according to some,
extending from beyond Rawal Pindi to Rotas.
This, however, applied probably to the dis
trict, not to the city. They stated that old
wells are often discovered over a wide sur
face. ; >that fragments of old pottery are abund
ant; and that ancient coins are frequently

312 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
found. They brought us two small copper
coins, but they had Arabic letters, too much
worn to be deciphered, but sufficiently dis
tinct to be recognised as Arabic.
Beyond Manikyala, to the north-eastward,
was an old building like a fort, which was the
ancient burial-place of the Ghikar chiefs.
Sultan Sarang, one of their most celebrated
rulers, is interred on the outside. It is a sub
stantial edifice, surmounted by a dome, within
which were the tombs of his descendants,
covered by slabs of an orange-coloured mar
ble, but almost concealed by dirt and the dung
of the pigeons, martins, and swallows, that are
the only frequenters of the cemetery. There
are a number of graves within the inclosure,
but none of note, nor were there any inscrip
tions. The Ghikars are not numerous now
in this part of the country, though they are
said to have occupied the whole tract between
the Indus and the Jelum. One of their chief
cities, Pharwala, was about five kos north
west from this place, on the left bank of the
Sewan. Its inhabitants are but imperfectly
subjected to the power of Ranjit Sinh. A
vast proportion of the population of these dis-

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 313
tricts consists of emigrants from Kashmir.
On the 19th we halted at the town of Rawal
Pindi. Rawal Pindi is a town of considerable size,
containing a number of low mud-houses with
flat roofs, and a large but irregularly-built
bazar. It owes its importance to its having
been selected by Shah Sujah for the residence
of his family, and of Zeman Shah, whilst he
engaged in the contest with Shah Mahmud
for the throne of Cabul. A rather large but
ill-built mansion was raised for their accom
modation. It appears to be of brick without
plaster, and forms a conspicuous object. From
the number of persons who accompanied the
family Rawal Pindi became a place of some
demand for grain and merchandise, and it is
now the chief mart for the trade between Am-
ritsar and Peshawar. It is chiefly supported
by its commerce, for the agriculture of the
adjacent lands has been ruined by exorbitant
taxation. A few years since the annual re
venue raised from them was three lakhs of
rupees ; it is now less than one. There were
a great number of Peshawaris in the town,
and the general impression amongst them was

314 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
that our journey had a political bearing. It
was reported that Shah Sujah had engaged to
give the British government six anas in the
rupee of his revenues, on their reinstating him
in his kingdom. The state of affairs beyond
the Indus seemed, from all accounts, to be bad
enough, and not much better in Turkistan.
Our information on the latter head was de
rived from a Hindu goldsmith of Potonhar,
who had just returned from Transoxiana. It
is a curious fact, that three or four hundred
persons of this trade and persuasion pass
backwards and forwards between the Panjab
and the banks of the Oxus and Jaxartes. In
the latter countries they are employed in
working in the precious metals, which they
manage to alloy, so as to realise a consider
able profit in addition to their fair earnings.
In three or four years they return to their
homes with the money they have thus ac
quired. Leaving Rawal Pindi on the 21st, we tra
versed the same description of country to
which we had been accustomed, to the ascent
and pass of Mar-gala — a paved road over a
range of low hills covered with bushes of aca-

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 315
cia and long grass. The road through the
gala or gorge is six or seven yards broad, is
strongly, though not neatly paved, and at the
end is cut about five feet into the rock. The
latter, as well as the pavement, is a bluish
or grey limestone. A strong revetment of
masonry defends each side of the work, and
an inscription, on a block of stone, records its
completion in the Hijra year 1083. The length
of the pavement is about two hundred paces
less than a mile from the descent ; the road
crosses a small stream, the Kalapani, by a
substantial stone bridge.
On the march of the 23rd our attention was
attracted by a curious bhauli of singular depth.
It was strongly faced with brick and mortar,
and consisted of a small structure in the form
of a parallelogram, serving as a vestibule to
the well, having a small recess on either hand,
and a flight of steps leading to a terraced roof.
From this a passage led down to the well by
one hundred and seventeen steps, nine feet
broad, with several landing-places, the lower
Of which was below the level of the well, and
communicated with it by an aperture six feet

316 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
high. The upper part of the well was sepa
rated from the passage by a thick wall. The
well was ten feet nine inches in diameter, and
thirty-six yards deep, and the passage came
to within three yards ofthe bottom. To pre
vent the sides of the passage from giving way,
it contained four substantial partitions re
sembling transoms of a gun-carriage, and con
sisting of a succession of arches, built one
within the other; the two lowest partitions
rested each upon a strong wooden beam,
though they were secured by the same ar
rangement as the others. The well was lined
by a coat of excellent plaster. Adjoining the
mouth of the well, which was quite open and
without any parapet, was a strong semicir
cular platform edged by a low wall, and in
tended apparently as a walk for cattle em
ployed in drawing water from the well. It
was supposed to be a work of the reign of
Akbar. From hence the Hazara country was
distant about twenty miles horizontally to the
north-east, and farther off were mountains
covered with snow. A lofty hill, about twelve
miles off, north by west, was said to be the

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 317
strong hold of a tribe of Ala Zeis, called Khar-
baris, whose chief, Shir Zaman, had lately
provoked the resentment of Ranjit Sinh.
Advancing across a low ridge of hills, we
came to a plain in which stood the village of
Wah, and an extensive garden, in the usual
Mohammedan style, constructed by order of
the Emperor Akbar, on the site of an old serai,
the beauty of which drew from the monarch
the exclamation, " Wah bagh ! " whence the
name of the new pleasure-ground originated.
It covers a space about a quarter of a mile in
length, and half that in breadth, enclosed by
walls partly in ruins. The gateways and tur
rets that were constructed along the boundary-
wall are also mostly in a ruinous condition.
The eastern extremity is occupied by two large
stone- walled tanks ; the western by parterres,
and they are divided by a building which
served as a pleasure-house to the Emperor
and his household. It was too small for a re
sidence, consisting of a body and two wings,
the former containing three long rooms, and
the latter divided into small chambers. The
interior of the whole is stuccoed, and in the
smaller apartments the walls are decorated

318 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
with flowers, foliage, vases, and inscriptions, in
which, notwithstanding the neglected state of
the building, and its antiquity, the lines of the
stuccoed work are as fresh as if they had but
just been completed, indicating a very supe
rior quality in the stucco of the east over that
of the west. The chambers in the southern
front of the western wing, and others con
tinued beyond it, constitute a suite of baths,
including cold, hot, and medicated baths, and
apartments for servants, for dressing, and re
posing, heating-rooms and reservoirs : the
floors of the whole have been paved with a
yellow breccia, and each chamber is sur
mounted by a low dome with a central sky
light. Fresco paintings of flowers and foliage
in compartments embellish the walls, and
unless injured by mechanical violence, the
colouring has lost little of its original lustre.
Although possessing nothing majestic or im
posing, the baths at Wah bagh must have been
both commodious and elegant. The water,
which was supplied from the reservoirs first
noticed, is clear and in great abundance. It
comes from several copious springs at the
base of some limestone hills in the neighbour-

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 319
hood, and, after feeding the tanks and canals
of the garden, runs off with the Dhamrai river
that skirts the plain on the north and west.
Between this and the Serai of Hassan
Abdal the valley is somewhat contracted,
although the hills are low : at the foot of one
of these is the tomb of the saint from whom
the place is named*, and who is also known
by the more familiar denomination of Baba
Wali. It is a square building, containing a
tomb of marble, and standing in a walled
court. The two old cypresses noticed by Mr.
Elphinstone still formed its only ornaments :
they were of a variety not common in this
part of the country. Beyond the tomb was
a spot on the edge of a rill, trickling from a
block of stone, supposed to have been sancti
fied by a miracle wrought there by Nanak,
the founder of the Sikh faith. Nanak coming
to the place fatigued and thirsty, thought
he had a claim upon the hospitality of his
brother ascetic, and invoked the spirit of
Baba Wali for a cup of water. The Moham-

* Hasan, the Mad. Abdal being the Pashtu term for mad, ac
cording to Mr. Elphinstone : the insanity intended was of a reli
gious character. — Ed.

320 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
medan saint, indignant at the presumption of
an unbeliever, replied to his application by
throwing a stone at him of several tons weight.
Nanak caught the missile in his hand, and
then placed it on the ground, leaving the im
pression of his fingers upon its hard sub
stance : at the same time he commanded water
to flow from it, and this constituted the rill
here observable, along which were a number
of Sikh fanatics who had come in pilgrimage.
This story is curious, not only as a specimen
of the credulity of the people, but as the pro
bable invention of a very recent date. A
few years only have elapsed since the place
was in the possession of the Afghans, whose
fierce Mohammedanism would have tolerated
no Sikh pilgrims nor shrines within their
boundary. After quitting the tomb of Baba Wali, the
road crossed the course of the Dhamrai rivu
let, and shortly afterwards that of the Haru,
a stream flowing into the Indus, and formed
of five smaller streams, the Kalapani, which
we had before met with, joining the Dhamrai:
the latter rising from the pass between Sha-
ladatta and Khanpur, flows along the north

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 321
of the garden of Wah, and is increased by a
number of small springs issuing from the gar
den. After it is joined by the Kalapani it
receives the miraculous rivulet of Hassan Ab
dal, which rises at about five kos off to the
east. A more considerable stream, the Nilab,
rises from the hills to the northward of Khan-
pur, and after running for some distance, joins
the main stream of the Haru, coming from
the north. Their united current meets the
trunk of the other three streams, opposite to
the large village of Burhan, and the whole
then flows westerly to the Indus, below the
fort of Attok. It runs in a deep hollow with
considerable impetuosity : when we forded it,
it was knee deep, and above twenty yards
across : in the rains it fills the hollow, of which
it now only occupied a small portion.
After crossing some broken and irregular
ground, with alternate hillocks and deep ra
vines, we came to the level plain of Chach.
We passed several villages, and encamped at
the small town of Hydro, or Hazro, where
there was a bazar. Much cotton of a tolera
bly good quality is grown in the neighbour
hood. There was not much land in cultiva-
VOL. II. Y

322 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
tion in any part of the plain, and it was
covered by a coarse grass, amidst which rat-
holes were infinitely numerous. The villages
were generally perched upon low mounds,
and were the more conspicuous, that few trees
were to be seen. At the end of the plain we
skirted the base of a low rough chain of hills,
and once more beheld the Indus ; a very dif
ferent stream from that with which we had
been so well acquainted in Ladakh. It was
separated by a flat, grassy island, into two
large streams, the nearest of which occupied
the farther part of a bed of six hundred yards
in breadth, the nearest portion of which con
sisted of fine glistening sand. The other
branch was concealed by the islet. Hardly a
tree was to be seen upon the broad level
along which the river flowed, and the turf of
the adjacent plain had assumed a brown hue.
The hills were stony, and though sprinkled
with bushes of the byre, had the appearance
of being entirely bare. The aspect of the
gateway to Hindustan gives but little promise
of the richness of the country to which it
leads. We halted on the 26th at the serai of
Attok, a building of considerable extent, built

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 323
of stone chiefly, with a terraced roof; the
cells are more capacious than usual. A well-
built mosque stands in the centre of the court,
which is now used only as an additional ac
commodation for travellers. The serai is se
parated from the fort by little more than a
ravine. An order from Ranjit Sinh procured us ad
mission into the celebrated fortress of Attok,
but we were not allowed to see much of its
interior. Proceeding from the serai to the
gateway on the north, along a perfectly good
road, unprovided with any defences, we en
tered into a small projecting court, about
twenty yards long, in which Suja-al-mulk was
confined by Jehandad Khan, after he was
driven from Afghanistan. From hence we
passed through another gate into the bazar, a
narrow lane of shops, chiefly for the sale of
provisions, and along this we were conducted
to the opposite or southern gateway, which
opened upon the side of the hill immediately
above the ferry over the Indus. The gates'
of the fort are lofty and large, and the walls,.
are of the same description as those of Rotas,
thick, crenated, artd pierced with loopholes :,
y 2

324 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART HI.
the direction of the bazar is parallel with the
river, and the bazar is four hundred paces
long: between it and the river front are houses,
and at the south-west angle a bastion projects
into the stream : on the side of the bazar,
farthest from the river, the fort contracts and
extends in the form of an irregular parallelo
gram, about five hundred yards to the east.
The interior is discernible from the right bank
of the river, and the eastern end is com
manded by hills of greater elevation than that
on which it stands. Opposite to its southern
face, and divided from it by a ravine which
descends to the bank of the river, stands a
petty village, on a level with the gateway.
On the right bank of the river, and within
musket-shot of the southern postern of the
fort, is the village of Khairabad, defended on
the west by a mud redoubt, and by several
small stone buildings, intended as stations for
infantry, erected on different points of a ridge
of low hills, about a hundred yards to the
Westward ; the most remote is within the range
of artillery from the fort, and perfectly com
mands the latter. 'This is the case, however,
with even the road to Peshawar, on the Khai-

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 325
rabad side, and it would not be necessary to
erect batteries on the hills. The fort of Attok,
however impregnable it may be to Sikhs or
Afghans, could oppose no resistance whatever
to European engineers.
The Indus enters the plain of Chach in a
direction east by north. It is crossed both
above and below the fort : at the ferry of the
latter it was about a hundred yards across * ;
at the former it was something less. The
current ran at the rate of about three miles
an hour. Near the bank the soundings were
two fathoms, and five near the centre. The
direction of the river past the fort was south,
20 west ; but six hundred yards below Attok
it took a turn to the east: on the right
bank, at the place where it turns, is the rock
of Jelalia, and opposite to it that of Kamalia,
between which is said to be a dangerous whirl
pool : they offered little remarkable in their
appearance, being composed, like the banks
of the river and the neighbouring hills, of a
* Lieut. Burnes estimated it at one hundred and twenty yards.
Mr. Elphinstone calls it two hundred and sixty. These differences
are easily reconcilable with reference to the different periods of
the year. Mr. Trebeck crossed in November, Lieut. Burnes in
March, and Mr. Elphinstone in June.— Ed.

326 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
blue slaty rock, darkened and polished by
the action of the current.
We had pitched our tents at the foot of the
hills, to the west of Khairabad. These were
much broken at their bases by ravines, crossed
in some instances by structures, of which
some broken arches remain, and which are
said to be the ruins of an aqueduct, con
structed by Nadir Shah, for the supply of a
town which he commanded to be built on the
right bank of the Indus : no other vestiges of
this place, called Nadirabad, after its founder,
were discovered.
On the morning of the 29th Gholam Mo
hammed Khan, who had been deputed to
Peshawar, returned with letters from Yar
Mohammed Khan, accompanied by two per
sons, Sheikh Mohi-ad-din and Abdul Hak
Khan. The letters of the chief, and the
language of his envoys, were as friendly as
could have been expected, and, to judge from
appearances, our journey to Peshawar had
nothing in it to occasion anxiety or fear. We
were given to understand, however, that a re
port had been spread of our having with us
merchandise of immense value, and that we

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 327
were prepared to repeat the profuse liberality
of the British embassy. In short, that unless
very large sums were promised to Yar Mo
hammed and his principal courtiers, we must
expect no security for our property or our
persons. It was therefore necessary to be
explicit, and it was only after having fully
explained our situation and views to the
Sheikh and his companion, and received from
them the most solemn assurances of safe con
duct, that we ventured to proceed towards
Peshawar. Various circumstances retarded our ad
vance, and we quitted Khairabad only on the
6th of December. The country belonged to
the Khataks, whose chief, Abbas Khan, had
only recently returned from Lahore, where he
had been to tender his allegiance to Ranjit
Sinh. We were assailed by various reports
of the predatory habits of this person and of
his people, and were assured that he had been
encouraged by Ranjit to oppose impediments
to our journey, if not actually to plunder us.
Some intimation of such a purpose showed
itself in the pass of Gidar Sali, where a num
ber of persons rolled down stones from the

328 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III,.
tops of the hills upon our foremost cattle. A
few men with muskets sent up to the summit
caused them to disappear, and we met with
no further obstruction until we reached Akora,
the capital of the district, a town of some ex
tent, surrounded by a mud wall, and situated
on the southern bank of the river of Kabul.
On our approach a large crowd was observed
near the gate, leaving the way clear for us to
enter ; but feeling ill-assured of the prudence
of trusting ourselves within the place, we
made a detour round it, and encamped at
some distance to the west. We were soon
surrounded by a number of spectators, includ
ing many armed horsemen, who frequently
gave us welcome with the cry of " Khush
amdeh aid, mulk-i shuma ast," at the same
time riding round us en caracole, brandishing
long spears, and firing matchlocks. No Ab
bas Khan made his appearance, although we
knew he had returned to his house. His
Naib, or deputy, came in his stead, who inti
mated some expectation of our paying duties,
or a commutation of them, to the amount of
ten or twelve thousand rupees: he forbore,
however, to press the subject, and after his

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 329
departure, sent to say that none would be
levied ; but he expressed a hope that we would
remain where we were until his chief could
visit us ; with which we civilly declined com
pliance. Upon loading our cattle on the following
morning, we saw a small body of horsemen
assembled on the line of our route, and a mes
sage was sent to us from the Naib, forbidding
our advance, on pain of being immediately
attacked. To this we determined to pay no
regard ; but before we moved the strength of
the party had increased to about two hundred
horse, and one hundred foot, whilst a mob of
seven or eight hundred had issued behind us
from the town. We nevertheless commenced
our march, dividing our small party into two
bodies, one in advance, and the other in the
rear, with the camels and baggage in the
centre. The road was intersected by a ra
vine, which about seventy or eighty of the
" Khatak infantry were detached to occupy ;
but the head of our party gained the edge of
it at the same time, and threatening, if they
were opposed, to open a fire upon the Kha
taks, from a small piece of ordnance with the

330 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
advance, they retired with great precipita
tion upon a body of horsemen in their rear.
The Naib now joined us, and again urged our
awaiting the visit of Abbas Khan ; but find
ing us determined to proceed, he at last con
sented to order off his men, and to accompany
us to the border, on condition of our halting
there till the following morning. To this we
consented, and the Khataks were withdrawn.
We had scarcely marched two miles, however,
before the horsemen were again in our neigh
bourhood ; sent, the Naib protested, merely to
reconnoitre, as a party of Peshawar cavalry
was reported to be on the frontier. Seeing
that we were rather incredulous, he left us to
order his men, as fie pretended, to a greater
distance, and we saw no more of him or of his
followers. One only of his servants attended
us across the boundary, to whom, at his re
quest, we gave a certificate addressed to Ran
jit Sinh, that we had passed through the dis
trict without loss of property or reputation.
A letter from Abbas Khan was received on
the following day, disavowing the menacing
conduct of his people, and hoping I would for
give it, as " he had well rubbed their ears."

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 331
Before dismissing Abbas Khan the op
portunity may be taken of narrating some
events which took place shortly after our en
counter with him, and which are illustrative
of the manners of him and of his country
men. His allegiance to Ranjit Sinh was a
measure distasteful to his tribe, and Khoshal
Khan, the Khan of the Southern Khataks,
in particular reprobated his conduct. There
had been previous disagreement between the
chiefs of Tiri and Akora, but it was supposed
that they had been put to rest by the mar
riage of Khoshal Khan with the sister of
Abbas Khan. Some dissensions, also, that
had occurred between Khoshal Khan and
his bride had been amicably adjusted,
and he was invited to Akora to partake of
the festivities of a hunting party. He ac
cepted the invitation, and, with a few at
tendants, repaired to Akora, where he was
received with great apparent cordiality. At
the first hunting excursion, however, he was
assailed by armed men employed by Abbas
Khan, and slain. The chief of Akora
marched, after one day's interval, to surprise
Tiri ; but the news of the murder of Khoshal

332 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
Khan preceded him, and enabled the wi
dowed mother of the Tiri chief to close the
gates of her fort against the enemy, and sum
mon Nadir Ali Khan, the chief of the Bun-
gush tribe, and her husband's brother, to her
defence. Nadir Ali had formerly killed
Arsillah Khan, the elder brother of Khoshal
Khan, but his offence was seemingly for
gotten in the occasion that recommended his
alliance. Abbas Khan was unequal to con
tend with the Southern Khataks and the
Bungushes, and was recalled to Akora by
advice that Yar Mohammed Khan was
marching against it. On his departure the
mother of Khoshal Khan accused her daugh
ter-in-law of having been a party to her son's
murder, and, accordingly, put her to death.
Entertaining suspicions, also, of Nadir Ali's
designing to retain possession of Tiri, she
had him assassinated whilst at evening
prayer. Yar Mohammed Khan easily took
Akora, and Abbas Khan was compelled to
seek protection at the court of Ranjit Sinh *.
* Akora, which Mr. Elphinstone calls a large town, and which,
from the account of our travellers, must have had a considerable
population, was nearly deserted when visited by Lieut. Burnes. —
Ed.

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 333
After quitting the neighbourhood of Akora
our route lay along the right bank of the
river of Kabul for some distance, approach
ing the angle of its course, in which was
situated the village of Noushehra, remark
able as the site of the recent engagement,
the result of which had placed Peshawar at
the mercy of the Sikhs. The success of
Ranjit Sinh on this occasion was owing not
so much to his superior conduct and the gal
lantry of his troops, as to the unseasonable
parsimony and unaccountable inertness of
the Afghan ruler, Mohammed Azim Khan.
Twenty thousand mountaineers had been
levied by the influence of their Pir-zadas,
and were encamped on the left bank of the
river, whilst Azim Khan, with the regular
Afghan army, was stationed on the right
bank. Leaving a few men to keep this force
in check, Ranjit Sinh crossed the river, and,
with his main strength, fell upon the Ghazis,
as they were ternied, volunteers in holy war
fare. Although defrauded of their promised
pay, and left without supplies of provision,
the Ghazis met the attack with extreme
bravery, and would have probably won the

334 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
day had not the Sikh's disciplined regiments
stood firm, or had Azim Khan acted vigo
rously in their support. Notwithstanding
they were defeated with great slaughter,
their leader, Pir-zada Mohammed Akbar,
proposed to renew the conflict on the follow
ing day; but Mohammed Azim broke up
his camp in the night, and fell back upon
Peshawar. The Ghazis then reluctantly dis
persed *.
From the neighbourhood of the scene of
this action the road turned off to the south,
to the village of Pir Piai, where we were re
ceived with much cordiality by Nur Moham
med Khan, the manager, a grandson of the
celebrated Jehan Khan, the general of
Ahmed Shah. He accompanied us on the
rest of the way to Peshawar, and amused
himself and his companions by reciting
Persian verses. An aged Mohammedan of
our party was somewhat scandalised by find
ing some liquor stronger than water in a
vessel from which the Khan had just allayed
* Further particulars of this battle may be found in Conollys
Journey Overland to India, and Prinsep's Life of Ranjit Sinh.—
Ed.

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 335
his thirst. - The road to the city passed over
a tolerably level and cultivated plain. To
wards the end of the march we passed the
remains of the wall of the ancient city of
Shahabad upon our right, and encamped, on
the evening of the 8th, at the village of Je-
hangirabad. The plain bore many marks of
the devastations committed by the Sikhs in
their late operations against Peshawar. On
the morning of the 9th we advanced to the
city, being met on the way by Pir Moham
med Khan, the younger brother of Yar Mo
hammed. We were conducted to him by
Abdul Hak, and found him on foot at the
end of a lane formed by a body of above
three hundred horsemen, on the right and
left of the road. Having alighted and sa
luted him, the whole remounted, and ad
vanced together. A party of foot, armed
with heavy matchlocks, and dressed in green
caps, orange jackets, and black trowsers,
preceded us. The cavalry followed : they
were variously accoutred and armed, but,
for the most part, well mounted. Whilst yet
at some distance from the city the crowd of
spectators was very considerable, but when

336 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
we came near it was almost impossible to
make way, and the tops of houses and
walls, and all the trees, were covered with
people. At last we were relieved from this
scene of dust and confusion by arriving at
the house destined for our reception, the re
sidence of the late Akram Khan. The floor
of the principal apartment was covered with
a rich Persian carpet, and felts were arranged
round the room ; trays of sweetmeats were
handed to us, and Mohammed Khan took leave.
At night a plentiful dinner was sent to us,
and a breakfast the next morning, and seve
ral days elapsed before we could excuse our
selves from receiving such marks of hospi
tality. Our reception by the Duranis formed
a striking contrast with that we had experi
enced from the Sikhs, who, whilst professing
equal cordiality, omitted no opportunity of
annoying us, and perpetually gave occasion
to sentiments of suspicion and mistrust.
The city of Peshawar, and plain in which
it is situated, have been so fully and accu
rately described by Mr. Elphinstone, that it
is not necessary to attempt any detailed ac
count of either. Both, however, had much

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 337
fallen off since his visit, in consequence of
civil dissensions and hostilities with Ranjit
Sinh. Many of the houses of the city were
untenanted and in ruins, and in the plain
very many of the villages were deserted,
and extensive tracts of rich land were un
cultivated. In the immediate vicinity of the
town the Sikhs had inflicted more mischief
than many years' labour could remedy, by
destroying gardens and orchards, and demo
lishing the wells and channels of irrigation.
The Bala Hisar, which, at the time of the
British embassy, was the occasional resi
dence of the king, and in which their audi
ence took place, was now a heap of rubbish,
and the only use made of it by the rulers of
Peshawar was as a quarry from whence to
procure materials for dwellings of their own
erection. Even Kashmir, miserable as it
was, was not so desolate as the vicinity of
Peshawar, not because it was better go
verned, but because the people had less fa
cility of escaping from the rapacity of their
rulers, and because it was less exposed to, the
evils of war.
In times of tranquillity, and under an en-
vol. n. z

338 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
lightened government, Peshawar is admi
rably situated for an entrepot of commerce
between the British settlements of India and
the countries north of the Hindu Kosh. From
British India it is accessible not only by land
but by the Indus, the navigation of which, al
though little known to Europeans, as it has
not been attempted by them since the days
of Nearchus, is perfectly practicable for
boats of considerable burden. From the sea
to Attok there is no obstruction of any im
portance, and the water-carriage continues
not only along the main stream some way
above that fort, but, by means of the river of
Kabul, to within five kos of the city of
Peshawar, at a place called Sahiba Patar,
where Afghans going on pilgrimage to Mecca
usually embark. They reach Karachi Ban
dar in a month. The advantageous position
of Peshawar for the commerce of Khorasan
and Peshawar has been noticed by others,
but the availability of the upper part of the
Indus for this object has been unknown or
overlooked, and it seemed, therefore, of im
portance to ascertain the fact *. As affecting
* Mr. Moorcroft furnishes many details, and he is entitled to

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 339
the character of Peshawar as a commercial
station, it may be right to observe that the
objections founded on the extent and influ
ence of the swampy ground in its neighbour
hood have been unnecessarily strong. We
saw no swamp which might not be easily
drained, and of which the recovery would not
amply remunerate the cost.
The aggressions of a foreign enemy were
not the only source of suffering to the people,
but the dissensions of their rulers aggravated
the disorder of the country. Mutual j ealousies
and disputes for authority estranged the nu
merous members of the Barikzye family from
each other, and weakened the power which
they had usurped on the downfal of the de
scendants of the Abdali. Besides those who
were engaged in contending for supremacy at
Kabul, or in its dependencies, there were at
Peshawar four of the brotherhood, Yar Mo
hammed, Sultan Mohammed, Syed Moham
med, and Pir Mohammed, who shared amongst
the merit of having first suggested the use that might be made of
the Indus as a channel for British commerce. It is unnecessary,
however, to transcribe his information, as the voyage of Lieut.
Burnes up the Indus, and the inquiries of that officer and others
have fully determined the question. — Ed.
z 2

340 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
them the administration of Peshawar and the
adjacent districts, but who were united only
by their mutual fears and weakness. So con
vinced were they of their perilous situation,
that at a formal interview we were most earn
estly entreated to become the channel of a
negotiation for placing the whole country
under British rule. So urgent, and apparently
sincere were their representations, that I was
obliged to acquiesce so far as to promise to for
ward a memorial from them to Calcutta, stating
distinctly that it was to be considered as the
mere act of a private individual, without any
authority to advocate their cause, and without
any means of offering even a conjecture as to
the result of the application *.
These dissensions, and the disturbed state
of the country in consequence, rendered it
unsafe for us to move as early as we wished,
* These negotiations probably gave rise to the story told by Ghu-
lam Hyder, that the brothers offered to give the country to Mr.
Moorcroft upon payment to them of three lacs of rupees a year,
and that upon his declining the offer, an engagement was entered
into with Mr. Trebeck for one lac a year for three years, after.
which he was to pay the stipend first stipulated. The bargain was
not effected, because Yar Mohammed began to suspect it was the
purpose of the Europeans to bring back the King Suja al Mulk.
As. J., v. xix. p. 38. — Ed.

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 341
and we were detained at Peshawar until the
beginning of May. In the interval I accom
plished a visit to the country of the Waziris, in
order to ascertain the quality of their breed
of horses. The journey was performed under
the care of Mir Kamar-ad-din, a Pirzada of
great repute. The first part of the route was
that pursued by Mr. Elphinstone, as far as
Kobat, but it then led to Tiri, the capital of
the southern Khataks, thence across the Salt
hills into the country of the Barak Khataks,
and then into the oasis of Banu, in the middle
of a desert sixty or seventy miles long, and
nearly of equal breadth, the western extremity
of which is frequented in spring by the no
madic Waziris with their cattle. At the time
of our visit in March, the desert was covered
with a rich carpet of variegated colours, from
the purple flowers of the wild sanfoin, and
the yellow flowers ofthe marigold and bugloss.
Its most valuable product, however, is the
ashkar, a succulent shrub from which potash
is largely prepared. The people were every
where most hospitable and kind, laying aside
their marauding propensities in favour of the
solitary stranger and his holy guide. Even

342 JOURNEY TO KASHMIR [PART III.
amongst these barbarian tribes, however, it
was not unusual to hear expressions of a wish
to be protected from the Sikh and their own
rulers by a British government. The Waziri
tribe are said to comprehend from eighty to
ninety thousand families; but they are torn
to pieces by intestine feuds, village being
armed against village, and man against man ;
and there is no one to enforce order and re
press violence. The tract of Banu owes its
fertility to its being more thoroughly irrigated,
by canals cut from the river Kurma, and pro
duces most luxuriant crops of barley and
wheat. The Waziris are all nomadic. Their
horses appear to consist of two breeds ; one
called Khazar-wal, from a person of the name
of Khazar, who it is said introduced it ; the
other Dagla-gala, or ' thieves' brood,' from
the parent having been stolen. My visit was
late in the season, most of the families having
moved to the mountains, and Banu had been
recently swept by the Sikh army. Colts were
therefore scarce, and I purchased but two,
one at one hundred and fifty-five the other at
two hundred rupees : the former, though not
handsome in figure, was invaluable in work ;

CH. VII.] AND PESHAWAR. 343
the latter was in appearance precisely like an
Arab, and would have sold in Calcutta, as an
Arab, for one thousand rupees. However ser
viceable for ordinary purposes the Waziri
horse is not adapted for cavalry, seldom much
exceeding fourteen hands.

PART IV.
JOURNEY TO KABUL AND BOKHARA.

CHAPTER I.
Departure from Peshawar — Jamrud— Khyber country — Thieves
— Pass — Topes — Afghan troops — Insolence and Credulity of
the Khyberis — Shenwar Khybers — Kafir castle — Hot winds —
Mountains — Caves in the rocks— Kama river — Jelalabad — Dis
trict — Town — Surkh-rud river— Chahar-bagh — Sultanpur —
Orchards — Wandering Giljis — Bala-bagh — Congress — Topes
of Amara-khel — Ancient Coins — Lamghan — Kaferistan —
Bimba — District of Gandamak — Bridge over the Surkhab —
Pass of Jagdelak— of Katalang— Storm — Heft Kotel— Kabul.
In the beginning of 1824 the political disputes
of.the Barikzyes had come to a crisis. The
persons chiefly interested in the contest were
Dost Mohammed Khan and his nephew, Ha-
bib Ullah, and the main object of their dis
agreement was the possession of Kabul. This
city had been the portion of Mohammed Azim
Khan, the elder brother of Dost Mohammed.
Mohammed Azim Khan died shortly after the

346 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
battle of Noushehra, and his son, Habib Ullah,
claimed the succession to the government of
Kabul, which was disputed by his uncle.
Habib Ullah was a weak profligate young
man, and by no means a match for Dost Mo
hammed ; but the reputation of his father,
and his own supposed wealth, procured him
partisans, and enabled him, on more than one
occasion, to defeat his uncle's attacks upon
him. Hostilities, however, continued between
them, and subjects of grievance between Ha
bib Ullah and some of his other uncles had oc
curred. It was thought advisable, therefore, by
the brothers at Peshawar to interpose, and, if
possible, effect an accommodation. With this
view Yar Mohammed Khan left Peshawar
and repaired to Kabul, and after a short in
terval summoned Pir Mohammed and Sultan
Mohammed to join him.
We had arranged for our onward journey
through the country of the Momands, but
Sultan Mohammed strongly urged us to take
advantage of his and his brother Pir Moham
med's march with a body of troops to Kabul,
and to accompany his detachment. He pressed
this with so much earnestness, giving us pri-

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 347
vately intimation that we had little security
even from his brothers, except in his support;
and as we had always found reason to rely
upon his friendship and sincerity, we acqui
esced in his recommendation. Accordingly
we quitted Peshawar on the evening of the
24th of May, and bivouacked at midnight on
the plain, about four or five mile& from the
city, at a short distance from the prince's en
campment. Early on the morning of the 30th the Af
ghans were in motion, collecting in troops
under several leaders, each distinguished by a
triangular pennon. The march lay over the
western part of the plain of Peshawar ; the
ground was uncultivated and plentifully strewn
with small stones, with patches of good pas
turage. That it had been once under tillage
was evident from numerous traces of water
courses and ruined villages. The plain ter
minated at Jamrud, at the foot of the Khyber
range. It appeared to have been formerly a
place of importance, from the number of bro
ken stone walls scattered about, and some
large tanks, one of which was sixty yards
square. It now contained but a few houses of

348 journey to Kabul [part iv.
stone, and some mat hovels, occupied by Khy-
beris, a race of notorious thieves. Their Kazi,
a very Jewish-looking person, had visited us
along with a number of his clansmen at Pesh
awar, and had been very importunate for
money to purchase his protection. He made
his appearance again at Jamrud, and renewed
his suit, and, after some discussion, it was set
tled that he should attend us to the borders of
the Momand country for twenty-five rupees.
Notwithstanding this, we received intimation
that the Khyberis had plotted to plunder us
during the night, and we were therefore obliged
to be upon our guard, and had little rest. The
day had been intensely hot, and the wind was
as scorching as if it had been blown from a
blacksmith's forge.
The road on the next day passed along the
course of the Shora rivulet and through narrow
defiles amongst the mountains to the pass of Ali
Masjid, which is considered as one of the most
dangerous places in the country, both from
its narrowness and difficulty, and from its
being the boundary between the two clans of
Koki Khail and Zaka Khail. The mountains
on either hand of the defile are about one thou-

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 349
sand three hundred feet high, slaty, bare, and,
to all appearance, inaccessible. On the left,
between the main ridge and the pass, of which
it forms one side, is a conical hill of about six
hundred feet high, on the summit of which
the remains of stone walls may be discerned,
the relics of a fortress by which the pass was
formerly commanded. A tall beetling crag
rises on the right of the defile, which is no
where above twenty-five paces broad, and in
some is not more than six or seven. The
length of the pass is nearly a mile. It was
not without much labour and delay that Sul
tan Mohammed managed to get his three
cannon through the pass.
After clearing the defile the mountains re
ceded and gave. us a fine view of a reach of
the valley, in which our attention was caught
by a structure of the character of the tope of
Manikyala, standing strongly in relief against
a clear sky, and rendered more conspicuous
by its situation on an isolated craggy mound.
When we arrived at the spot we found that
the northern side of the structure had fallen
in, but its southern face was tolerably perfect.
The dome was more dilapidated than that of

350 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
Manikyala, and showed that the structure
was solid. The building rested on a square
platform of masonry, from which rose a se
cond tier or platform divided into compart
ments, and ornamented with four pilasters,
each a foot and a half broad. Above this was
the rotunda, one hundred and ten paces in
circumference, and about fifty feet in height.
It was without any architectural ornament,
except two cornices which encircled it, but its
facing of masonry was curiously constructed
of square stones on edge, divided horizontally
by piles of slate of a few inches breadth,
and separated into tiers by flat slabs. On
the northern side a flight of steps had led ap
parently to the base of the rotunda, but the
top of them was in ruins. Amongst the rub
bish were masses of mortar and unbaked
bricks. By some its erection was ascribed to
the Mogul emperors of Hindustan, but others
asserted that it contained the ashes of some
wealthy Hindu, whose body had been burnt
here. It is most probably a Hindu structure,
though for what purpose is doubtful. It is
evidently of great antiquity, and of the same
period as the tope of Manikyala. At the foot

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 351
of the hill, to the northward, we observed dif
ferent piles which were apparently structures
of the same description, more or less in ruins.
We encamped near a small fort, called the
Gerhi, or fort of Lala Beg.
On this day's journey the Duranis observed
a less straggling march than they had hitherto
done. The whole force consisted of one thou
sand two hundred horse, exclusive of camp
followers, who were comparatively few. They
moved in three bodies, Pir Mohammed com
manding the van, Shah Aghasi the centre,
and Sultan Mohammed the rear. Though
not moving at any uniform pace, they tra
velled generally at a quick walk of about four
and a half miles an hour, and were not de
layed by their baggage, as it was placed on
mules or stout galloways, and the servants
rode on the top of the load. These animals
keep up very well with the cavalry, and when
the camp is formed, are sent out to fetch pro
vender. The troopers were variously mounted,
but most of them had strong active horses,
and those about the sirdars handsome chargers.
They were but indifferently armed. Some
had swords and spear-heads without shafts ;

352 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
some had bad pistols stuck in their kamar-
bands ; some had matchlocks with the eimak
or crooked stock ; and some had similar wea
pons with musket locks. Few of the men
had ammunition enough to keep up a fire of
ten minutes. The cannon were about four or
five pounders, tolerably well cast, but vilely
mounted on crazy carriages, and drawn by
wholly untrained horses. Of the Khyberis
we saw but few : they expostulated, it is said,
with Sultan Mohammed for taking us with
him through their district free of toll ; but he
maintained his right to do so, as we were his
allies ; and when they argued that we were
too few to be of any real use, he assured them
that we were possessed of such hikmat that
we could with ease bring their largest moun
tains about their ears. He even offered them
a specimen of our powers if they wished ; but
this they declined in great alarm. However
credulous in this respect, they did not believe
that we could not be robbed, and we were
therefore obliged to keep up a vigilant watch
at night.
The Khyber valley is of an irregular form,
but the average breadth is about fifteen hun-

CH. I.J AND BOKHARA. 353
dred paces : the hills which border it may be
about seven hundred feet high. In the val
ley we saw but few villages, and those were
of no great extent. Each house was enclosed
by a high wall, in some part of which was a
tower for look out and defence. The Khy-
beris are said to be a numerous clan, the
principal population being in the hills. They
are tall for mountaineers, and of a singularly
Jewish cast of features : some of the young
women had an arch, lively look, but we saw
none that could be regarded as pretty. The
men were dressed in long cotton tunics of
a kind of plaid, in which blue was the pre
vailing colour : the women wore an imitation
of chintz. The leaders of the Khyberis are
their Mullahs, who are said to amount to
three thousand. We occasionally saw them
in groups of fifty or sixty, but whether nu
merous or few, they were impudently urgent
in their demands for " sheep," by which they
intended money. We were glad to give them
a trifle in general to be rid of them, but on
one or two occasions were obliged to reject
their demands, even at the risk of an affray.
After crossing the valley we again came to
VOL. II. 2 A

354 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
a narrow defile, the road occasionally being
cut on the side of the rock leading to Landi
Khana, in the country of the Shenwari Khy-
bers, a race even more infamous for their rob
beries than the Afridi Khybers. On the top
of a lofty insulated crag we observed the re
mains of a stone fortress, called by some the
Kafir Kila, the castle of the infidels ; others
asserted that it dated since the introduction
of Islam : beyond this we passed a place called
the Heft Chah, or seven wells, from there
being that number in the neighbourhood : the
valley opened into the valley of the Kabul
river, and we encamped on its right bank, at
the village of Dhaka. On the other bank, at
some distance to the north-east, was Lalpura,
the chief town of the Mamands, defended by
a mud wall and towers.
The heat of the sun, and still more of the
wind, was excessively distressing, and such
were the fatigue and thirst of the people, that
had the river been but a little more distant,
many must have dropped. As it was we had
to regret the loss of a favourite spaniel and a
fine pointer ; our other dogs were barely saved.
We had heard of the fatal effects of the Si-

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 355
mum between Peshawar and Jelalabad, and
can easily conceive its distressing influence ;
for notwithstanding the scorching blast we
now encountered, the people agree in asserting
that the hot winds had not yet set in. Several
of the soldiers of Mohammed Azim Khan's
army perished last year on his retreat from
Peshawar. It is remarkable that the hot wind
is most intense along the course of the river.
It blew with less steadiness than in Hindus
tan, coming in puffs, alternating with a cold
blast, apparently from the snows of the Safed
Koh. Our march now continued along the valley
of the Kabul river, over a tolerably level and
extensive plain, on which several villages
were situated, all of them protected by mud
walls and bastions from sudden incursions.
On the left the plain was bounded by the
Safed Koh range, at a distance of about nine
miles; with a glass, forests, apparently of
pines, clothing its summits, were descried.
The mountain, especially termed the Safed
Koh, lies at the head of the Mamand Dhara,
a valley belonging to the Shenwaris, cele
brated for its vineyards : more to the west is
2 a 2

356 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
another fertile valley, called Mangastura.
These also rear most of the pomegranates
imported into Hindustan. Across the river
ran a chain of barren hills, called, from their
sterility, Kohi Bedaulet. In some of them
we could distinguish lines of cavern mouths ;
but whether these excavations were ancient
or modern, we were not near enough to deter
mine. Many of the Afghan tribes form domi
ciles in the rocks, and we had noticed several
cave-dwellings in the Khyber country. Be
yond the mountains, skirting the river on the
north, part of the snowy peaks of the heights
bounding Kaferistan were visible.
On the 3rd of June orders were given to
make a night march, and we accordingly
started at ten p.m. We moved over a dry
sandy plain for some distance, and then
reached broken ground, near which was a
walled enclosure, called Surkh Diwar, or red
wall : the spot is notorious as that whence
the Simum is said to originate, and as being
the haunt of Shenwari and Waziri freebooters.
From thence we descended, and came again
upon the bank of the river, from which we
had previously made a considerable detour.

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 357
Near this it was joined by the river of Kunar,
called by Macartney the Kama : it is of no
great size, and rises most probably from the
snows of the Himalaya. There were several
villages on the left bank, Besud and others,
inhabited by a people who pretend to be de
scended from the Arabs. We passed through
the bazar of Jelalabad, which seemed worse
supplied than many a village bazar in Hin
dustan, and encamped without the town, above
a thousand paces from the river.
We remained at Jelalabad on the 5th. It
rained during the preceding night and great
part of the day, and the Duranis, who had
pitched their tents near to the river, were
obliged to strike them precipitately to get out
of the way of the water. They marched off
in the evening to Bala Bagh, but it was too
late for us to follow. Jelalabad is said to owe
its origin to the emperor Akber, styled also
Jelal-ad-din, and to have been a place of con
siderable importance, as the capital of a pro
vince. Even at a recent period the latter had
yielded a revenue of six hundred and fifty-two
thousand rupees. It was raised from the fol-

358

JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.

lowing places, the list of which will also point
out the extent of the province.

Southern
Dhaka and Girdi

Du

IS10

n. Rupees. 2,000

Hazar Nau .

10,000

Biskbulak

10,000

Koth . . .

40,000
Hisarak .
50,000
Chaparyar
30,000
Khogiani
60,000
Gandumak .
. 3,000
Ishpan
2,000
Chakar
,000
Hisarak of Nurkhan
. 8,000
218,000
Town of Jelalabad . . 3,000
221,000
Northern Division.
Lalpur ....
Goshta and Khazai
Kama ....
Kunar, containing six
large valleys .
Shiwaikiktik Arabi and Zakhet .
Lamghan .
Bala Bagh . . .
Surkhrud . .
Kupees. 3,0008,000
60,000
100,000 30,000 15,000
150,000 15,000
60,000
431.000
The town is advantageously situated for com
merce, as besides being on the high road from
Peshawar to Kabul, roads lead from it to Dar-
band, Kashmir, Ghizni, Bamian, and through
Lamghan to Badakhshan and Kashkar. At
present the only traffic that subsists is the ex
port of fruit, pomegranates chiefly, and timber
from the pine forests of Komner to Peshawar.
The whole number of houses at present is said
not to exceed three hundred, and the aspect
ofthe place is more ruinous than any through
which we have passed in Afghanistan. The
CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 359
district extends about fifty kos in length, by
about thirty in breadth, and was at present
under the administration of Mohammed Ze
man Khan, a son of Asal Khan, the elder
brother of Fatteh Khan, and consequently the
cousin of Habib Ullah. The latter, however,
was attempting to dispossess him in favour of
his own brother, Akram Khan. The distracted
state of the government was the constant theme
of complaint with the Mullahs, and respect
able natives who came to visit us.
We resumed our march on the 6th, having
the river on the right, and across it, a range
of low hills, at the distance of twelve or fifteen
hundred paces, beyond which were the sum
mits of the Hindu Kosh : on the left was a
sandy plain, bounded by the Safed Koh moun
tains, distant about twelve miles. The river
was joined by the Surkh Rud, or red river,
running past Bala Bagh, then turned more to
the north, being lost amongst the hills. Be
yond the junction we passed the garden of
Chahar Bagh, an enclosure about two hun
dred yards square, with one or two small
buildings : the wall was broken down in many
places, and the place was utterly neglected.

360 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
It was said to have been originally the work
of Baber, but was latterly repaired by Zeman
Shah. Hence the road proceeded along the
edge of a cultivated strip of land, in which
many walled gardens, containing mulberry,
apricot, apple, and plum trees were observ
able. We encamped between two villages, to
each of which the name of Sultanpur is appli
cable : they are distinguished as lower and
upper (pain and bala), also by the epithets
Safla and Galia. At the former the houses
were generally situated in orchards of apri
cots, mulberries, quinces, and plums ; the lat
ter of a particular kind, called gurdalu, or
kidney -plum : it was yet green, and its cha
racter as a fruit, therefore, could not be ascer
tained. At Sultanpur Galia, the malik and
chief people were Tajiks, who claimed to be
descended from a colony of Persians, settled
here before the time of Mahmud of Ghizni.
They paid me a visit, and brought presents of
sugar-cane, melons, apricots, and cucumbers.
On this day's march we first met with parties
of wandering Ghiljis : their tents were nothing
more than flimsy black blankets, stretched
over forked sticks about four feet high ; within,

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 361
they had some more blankets, sacks, and
pack-saddles, and without, a few loads of mats,
ropes, and netting, for the formation of their
packages : both men and women were robust,
with strongly marked features. On the 7th
we advanced to the garden of Bala Bagh,
within which the whole of the Durani force
had taken up its position. We encamped on
its outside, and whilst unloading our baggage
had a specimen of the activity of the thieves
of the neighbourhood : taking advantage of
the confusion occasioned by unloading, and
the intrusion of a number of spectators from
the Afghan camp, they contrived to take a
pistol from the holster of one of our men who
had dismounted, even whilst holding his horse,
and a sword and belt of one of the Sipahis.
The Duranis had just before lost several
stands of arms in a similar way.
The principal persons assembled at Bala
Bagh, besides those of our party and Moham
med Zeman Khan, were Shakur Khan^ and
Mihr Dil Khan, brothers of Dost Mohammed,
and Wali Mir Akhor, the envoy of Habib
Ullah. These formed a sort of congress for
determining, if possible, the family dissen-

362 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
sions, and several days were spent in discus
sion. As we were considered part of the ex
pedition from Peshawar, we were obliged to
await the result of the negotiations. At length
it was settled that Sultan Mohammed Khan
should proceed to Kabul, and we marched in
his suite on the 14th of June.
Whilst we were encamped near Sultanpur
we heard that there were at the foot of the
Hindu Kosh range, in the district of Amara
Khel, a number of burjas, or towers, which,
according to the description given of them,
were of the same character as that we had
seen in the Khyber country, and we availed
ourselves of our detention at Bala Bagh to
pay them a visit. Our road lay between Sul
tanpur and the Surkhab, and across the lat
ter, which we forded. The stream was so
deep and rapid that it would not have been
possible to have crossed it on foot, and the
water was quite red from the quantity of red
earth washed down by the current. Having
thence ridden over some fields belonging to a
walled hamlet, and over a piece of clayey land,
much broken by water-courses, we reached a
narrow gravelly slope, joining at a few hun-

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 363
dred yards to the left the base of the moun
tains bounding this side of the valley. Here
we found a burj, but were much disappointed
by its appearance. It differed considerably
from the structure we had before seen, and,
though evidently ancient, was much less sub
stantially built, its exterior being formed for
the most part of small irregular pieces of slate
piled together without cement. We did not
pause long to examine this, as nine others
were in sight, one of which, more to the west
ward, appeared to be larger than the rest.
We therefore proceeded to it, and found that
it was situated on a stony eminence at the
base of the hills, on the opposite side of which
lies the main source of the Kabul river, and
nearly in a line with the garden of Chahar
Bagh. It was of the same style and form as
the others, but was larger and more entire.
It rose from a square platform, about seventy-
six feet on each side, ornamented with pilas
ters, with simple bases but rather curious
capitals : were it a tomb, it might be imagined
that the centre of the latter represented rudely
a skull, supported by two bones placed up
right, and side by side, or by a bolster or half-

364 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
cylinder, with its lower part divided into two.
On each side of this were two large pointed
leaves ; and the whole supported two slabs, of
which the lower was smaller than the upper
one. A singular feature in this decoration
was its being composed of small pieces of thin
slate, cleverly joined together. A flight of
steps had formerly led up the southern side of
the platform, but nothing remained of them
except a projecting pile of ruins. On the
centre of the platform stood the building,
called by the people the burj. The lower
half rose by perpendicular sides, and was sur
mounted by a cornice, whilst its centre was
marked by a semicircular moulding, and the
space between the moulding and the cornice
was ornamented by a band of superficial
niches, like false windows in miniature, arched
at the top, and separated by small pilasters.
The upper half of the building was smaller in
diameter than the lower, and of a conical out
line, but much of the top had fallen down.
Intermixed with the brown slate of which it
was chiefly constructed were pieces of quartz,
or of some white stone, which at a distance
gave to the exterior the effect of being che-

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 365
quered, or of a chess-board. This, although
the largest edifice on the spot, was smaller
than the tope of Manikyala, although evi
dently of the same character. Many of the
smaller topes seemed to have been simply cy
lindrical towers surmounted by a dome. The
greater part of them were in a very ruinous
condition. What might be the nature of these struc
tures was an object of much speculation. The
inhabitants of the village of Amerakhel de
clared that they had learnt from tradition
that there had once been an extensive city on
the spot, extending beyond the Kabul river,
across which they pointed to some excava
tions, which they said had been included in
the limits of the city. The usual appellations
for them were Burjai Kafir, towers of the
Kafirs ; and the Tajiks who accompanied us
said that their traditions had always so dis
tinguished them. The people of the village
also said that they had heard that the topes
were erected by a Raja named Udi, and that
the valley was inhabited by Hindus, who,
upon some persecution, fled across the moun
tains, and were now the people of Kaferistan.

366 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
It was also mentioned that coins were often
found in the neighbourhood, but not being
current they were of no value, and were ex
changed by the finders for common pyce at
the nearest shopkeeper's. Accordingly we
sent persons to the adjacent villages and to
Jelalabad, to endeavour to procure some of
these coins. From the latter our agent brought
us two Russian copeks ; from the villages we
obtained between thirty and forty curious
medals, having on one or both faces human
figures, frequently in combination with those
of the elephant or the bull, indicating their
having been struck by order of a prince who
was either a Buddhist or a Hindu. The va
riety was considerable, and two or three ap
peared to be Grecian, particularly one that
had on one side the right arm raised and
projecting, as if in an attitude of command*.
On others, of a larger size, was on one face
the profile figure of a man in a close vest,
with a cap on his head, facing to his own
right, his right hand apparently placing some-
* These notices identify the coins with others so abundantly
found in the same locality by Mr. Masson and Dr. Honigberger,
since the visit of our travellers. — Ed.

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 367
thing on a pile which might be meant for an
altar, his left resting on his hip. The other
face represented a figure wholly or partly
naked, standing by the side of the Indian bull.
On one was a figure riding on an elephant ;
on another a figure seated on a lotus. The
rust upon them, and the decayed state of their
surfaces, proved these coins not to be of re
cent fabric. Most of the coins bore inscrip
tions, but they were mostly indistinct, and the
characters were not known. In some of the
larger pieces they were more legible, and
would, perhaps, be readily deciphered by per
sons acquainted with the alphabets of India.
With regard to the buildings, it seems most
likely that they were Hindu, and either mo
numents of Satis, or Buddhists, and tombs of
the ashes of Lamas or of persons of rank.
The latter is the most likely, for the general
form of the edifice strongly resembles that
of the Mani-pani appropriated to the ashes
of the Rajas of Ladakh and the principal
Lamas. The day before we quitted our camp we
were visited by Shanawaz Khan, one of the
heads of the Tajiks of Lamghan, a district

368 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
which lies behind the first ridge of the Hindu
Kosh. He was much the most intelligent
man we met with in this part of Asia. Speak
ing of the topes, he stated that in two of them
which had been pulled down, a kind of urn
or vase of pottery had been found, similar in
form to the ovens used by bakers in Peshawar,
and that they were filled with ashes and frag
ments of burnt bones. He spoke in high
terms of his country, and the high state of cul
tivation of the lower valleys. He also showed
us some small garnets, or coarse rubies, found
amongst his mountains in such profusion that
the common people use them as shot in shoot
ing small birds. Speaking of the people of
Kaferistan, he stated that he had never heard
of any history of the people, but that, accord
ing to their own traditions, they descended
from that part of the Arab tribe of Koresh
which, refusing to acknowledge the divine
mission of Mohammed, were expelled from
their country, and driven from place to place
until they found an asylum in these moun
tains. Nevertheless, he admitted that the
language of the people of Kaferistan was to
tally different from the Arabic, except in a

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 369
very few words, and that they were without any
literature. He doubted if they had any know
ledge of written characters. They occupy a
barren and inclement region, and their coun
try consists of a few narrow valleys, amidst
mountains tipped with perpetual snow.
At Nimba, a village enclosed by a mud
wall, is another royal garden, which was for
merly regarded as superior to any other in
this part of the country. It is a square,
each side of which is three hundred and fifty
yards, surrounded by a high mud wall. The
area is laid out in cross avenues of chenar, or
plane trees, some of which rise to the height
of eighty feet, and are from ten to twelve
feet in girth. A shallow canal of brick and
mortar, eleven feet broad, formerly con
veyed a stream of water down the principal
walk. Summer-houses and chabutras or raised
mounds, shaded by the cypress and plane,
were scattered about the garden. Most of
these are now decayed, and many of the
trees have been injured or destroyed. The
garden is ascribed to the Emperor Baber,
but the site is memorable in modern times
for the defeat and death of Akram Khan,
VOL. II. 2 B

370 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
the Vazir of Shah Sujah, which was fol
lowed by the flight of that monarch from
Kabul, and the loss of his crown.
Beyond Nimba we entered the district of
Gandamuk, which is famous for its wheat,
and crossed a rivulet of some size by a
bridge of two arches, erected, as an inscrip
tion on it records, in the reign of the Empe
ror Shah Jehan. It was said that snow falls
only to the west of this bridge. After cross-
ing the rivulet we entered the district of
Ishpan, and encamped near another garden,
larger than that of Nimba, but of a similar
description. The wheat in the neighbour
hood was ready for the sickle, and many
families of the Ghiljis had assembled to as
sist in reaping it. They are paid for their
labour by one sheaf in every twenty. We
were obliged to dislodge one family from a
spot of ground under a tree, where they had
halted. They readily moved, soon loading
two asses and a camel with their effects, and
unceremoniously rolling up two young chil
dren of a twelvemonth and two years old in
a blanket, and tying them on the top of the
camel's load. The children were evidently

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 371
accustomed to the conveyance, as they ut
tered no complaint, and lay perfectly quiet.
On the 16th our march led across the
Surkhab, over a bridge built by Ali Mardan
Khan, in the reign of Shah Jehan, in a.d.
1606, but recently repaired by Akram Khan.
The bridge was one hundred and seventy
yards long, and eighteen feet broad, with a
single arch: it was flat at top, with a low
parapet on each side. The river, which
comes from the south-west, about twenty
miles off, was flowing in a rocky bed with
much rapidity. Below the bridge were two
small butts on either side of the river, about
two hundred yards apart, erected, it was
said, to commemorate a well-aimed bowshot
of Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Afghan
sovereignty. Beyond the river the road as
cended, and crossed the low line of hills
continuous with the Safed Koh range at the
pass of Jigdalik, from the summit of which
an extensive prospect of both chains and
the intermediate valley was enjoyed. Both
ranges were tipped with snow, and ran
nearly at an equal elevation, but the
Hindu Kosh presented, occasionally, much
2b 2

372 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
the loftier peaks. The valley contained
little cultivated land, and was sprinkled
with bushes or low trees of the Belut or
dwarf prickly oak, interspersed with bushes
of the white-flowered Daphne, and a variety
of Alpine plants. The temperature of the
air was very different from that to which we
had been accustomed, and the change, how
ever agreeable, was, in consequence of its
suddenness, the cause of fever in several of
my people. According to our Ghilji guide
the valley is, for nine months in the year,
the pasturage of large flocks of the broad-
tailed sheep and of goats, which, during
the other three months, graze in the moun
tains. The road descended to the village of
Jigdalik, so named from the former abund
ance of the Jigde, or Sanjid (Eloeagnus), of
which not a tree is now to be found here, but
of which the absence is compensated by a
grove of mulberries. As our companions had
appropriated all the supplies procurable at
this mean place, we moved on two kos, and
encamped on the bank of a watercourse.
On the next march we crossed another
pass, the Kata Lang, from whence the de-

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 373
scent was rapid to the stream of the Barikab.
The road then alternately ascended and de
scended to the narrow valley of Tizen, which
was in cultivation with wheat and rye, both
still green. A rough estimate of our eleva
tion, by boiling water, made it about six
thousand feet : here we halted. During the
night the wind was so violent that it snapped
the pole of my tent, and the canvas fell upon
my bed. On putting up my hand to remove
the pressure I received a smart shock of
electricity, and, passing my fingers along the
cloth, they were followed by streaks of light.
The phenomenon occurred repeatedly, until
the electrical matter was exhausted ; but it
was again excited by the flapping of the tent
against the bedstead, which was of iron.
After the moon rose we resumed our march.
The valley narrowed to a defile between
lofty mountains, not more than twenty to
thirty yards in breadth, and about a mile
long. Our advance was much delayed by
the precautions we had to take against de
predators, and it was day when we reached
the foot of the Heft Kotel, where the wind
was piercingly cold. From this the road be-

374 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
gan to descend, and passed by the ruins of
several villages, to one of which the name of
Khurd (Little) Kabul was attached. The
modern village, so called, is on the plain,
and it is also applied to a district. Our
march had been long, and we were glad to
halt near the walled village of Bhut Khad,
within view of the city of Kabul. Sultan
Mohammed had gone on to meet his nephew
nearer the city.
During the night some thieves took advan
tage of the remissness of the sentries to pe
netrate into several of our tents, and carried
off sundry articles of wearing apparel, Mr.
Trebeck's cloak, blanket, pistol, and, what
was a severe loss, his compass, one made.
with sights. The alarm was given by Mr.
Trebeck, who, putting his hand under his
pillow, missed the pistol, which was usually
deposited there. The thieves, however, had
escaped, and the property was never restored,
although I offered a liberal reward for its re
covery. From Bhut Khad we proceeded, on the
20th of June, to the capital, passing along a
narrow and ill -constructed causeway, over a

CH. I.] AND BOKHARA. 375
plain, which is occasionally flooded, from a
river that runs from the south-west, and is
subject to sudden swells. It was crossed by
a small bridge, from the end of which the
road ascended to an eminence, whence the
plain of Kabul, on the edge of which stands
the city, came in view. Here we were met
by a party of horse, under whose escort we
entered Kabul by the gate of Lahore. The
concourse of spectators was considerable, but
less so than at Peshawar. We were led from
the gate through a narrow street, which
skirted the walls, and then through open
and covered bazars, to the residence of Sul
tan Mohammed, who had caused his haram-
serai to be appropriated to our accommoda
tion. We were comfortably lodged, with the
convenience of a garden, surrounded by a
high wall. Sultan Mohammed sent us also a
dinner and a dessert. The fruit consisted of
cherries, a small morella, and mulberries, the
latter called Ibrahim Khani, a black species,
remarkably fine.

376 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.

CHAPTER II.
Departure from Kabul— Alarm of the Followers, and Desertion —
Fort of AUahdad Khan — Threshing Corn— Thieves— Mydan—
Sir-cheshme — Trout — Winter Forage — Forts — Helmand River
— Pass of Hajikak — Hazaras — Bamian — Figures — Paintings —
Caves — Origin — Sykan — Afghan Extortion — Assafcetida —
Slaves — Khurm — Aibek — Apricots — The Wali — Takhti Rus-
tam — Caves— Hill.
The account of Kabul, published by Mr.
Elphinstone, precludes the necessity of our
entering upon any particulars, and the period
of our stay was one of continual bustle and
alarm. The disputes between Habib Ullah
and his uncle, Dost Mohammed, agitated
the city, and at last came to an actual en
counter, in which the latter acquired the as
cendancy, which he has since maintained.
Various attempts were made by Habib Ullah
to extort money from us, but we succeeded,
with the support of our Peshawar friends, in
resisting them. Their protection, however,

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 377-
was not wholly disinterested, and, under the
name of a loan, I was obliged to raise money
to a considerable amount by bills upon Cal
cutta for the use of Sultan Mohammed Khan.
It was, therefore, with no slight satisfaction
that we got away from both friends and foes,
and, after the middle of August departed
from Kabul.
Our baggage was sent off on the evening
of the 16th to Deh Mazan, a village about
a kos and a half to the west of Kabul, across
a rivulet, and near the foot of the gorge,
which affords a road through the mountains.
We followed on the ensuing day, but were
delayed by several vexatious occurrences, so
that wt did not move from thence until the
19th. The worst feature in the events al
luded to was the feeling of alarm and de
spondency that pervaded many of our party.
At the la&t moment all the servants I had
engaged in Kashmir refused to proceed, and
my Munshi also insisted on his dismissal.
On the next iay four of my Gorkha soldiers
deserted: ther had become Mohammedans,
and were but \indifferent characters : but I
had a severe loss in the Naik, who also dis-

378 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
appeared, and who had always been a steady
and active adherent. Even Mir Izzet Ullah
partook of the panic, and, although he de
termined to accompany me himself, and
share my fortunes, he deemed it prudent to
send his son back to Hindustan, that, in case
of any calamity, his family might not be left
without a head. Replacing the defaulters
with Afghans as well as the time permitted,
and encouraging those who remained to think
lightly of the dangers of the journey, we re
sumed our road, resolved that no groundless
apprehensions, at least, should prevent our
arrival at Bokhara.
The road on the 19th continued to the
west, skirting the hills on our right. Several
forts were observable on either hand. The
path was tolerably level, over a sendy soil,
abounding, where not under the plough, with
camels' thorn. The wheat had been ga
thered, and the crop still remaining was that
of the carthamus, or safflower, the flower of
which is a more vivid red ani is richer in
colouring matter than the saflower of Hin
dustan, to which it is exporter On the spot
it sells at two and a half to ive rupees a ser.

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 379
This part of the plain would be almost un
productive were it not for the melting of the
snow, which is rendered subservient to irriga
tion by stone watercourses and canals, led
from the slopes of the hills. In many places
the land is hollowed into lines of deep ra
vines, with steep banks, in the beds of which
a series of wells, twenty or thirty feet apart,
and lined with stone, is constructed. Indian
corn is cultivated, and, though it seldom ex
ceeds three feet in height, yields a return of
forty to sixty for one. The sanjid tree, in
tolerably good years, yields, per tree, from
eight to ten sers of dried fruit. At Khush
Khak, where stood a fort of AUahdad Khan,
a friend of Dost Mohammed, we halted for
the night. On his corn floors I saw a con
siderable quantity of wheat, which women
with heavy sticks were employed in thresh
ing : another mode was by piling it in a heap
about twenty feet high, and thirty or forty in
diameter, from the top of which a quantity
was successively thrown down under the feet
of a couple of heavy bullocks, dragging after
them a heart-shaped frame of willow branches

380 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
stuffed with straw. By this brush, and the
feet of the oxen, the grain is detached from
the ear, but the operation is tedious and im
perfect : much of the grain remains mixed
with the chaff: it is not lost, however, as this
chaff is given to the horses. The feed of
horses is here most economically practised ;
the allowance for twenty-four hours for a
working horse being six pounds of barley
and ten of dry straw ; yet I never saw horses
in better condition, or more free from disease.
AUahdad Khan had a large vineyard, in
which some of the vines were in trellis, and
others in stocks, three feet high. The latter
broke out into sideshoots, which ran along
the ground, and were little productive. Not
withstanding the proximity of the fort, and
the presence of an escort of fifteen horsemen,
belonging to Sultan Mohammed Khan, we
were disturbed during the night by thieves.
They were seen, however, and fired upon by
the sentinels we had taken the precaution to
place. The attempt took place during Mr.
Trebeck's watch, who, riding up on the re
port of the piece, was mistaken by one of the

CH. II.] > AND BOKHARA. ¦ 381
sentinels for an Afghan : he fired, and brought
down the horse: luckily Mr. Trebeck es
caped unhurt. A
From Khush Khak we marched on the 20th
to the district of My dan, following a direction
generally west by north, over a stony and
irregular plain, leading to the ascent and pass
of Safed Khak. Beneath this spread the val
ley of Mydan, studded with forts ; the land
was worse than the east of the pass, and fruit
trees were giving place to the willow and
poplar. The road continued along the valley,
on this and the following day, to the village of
Takina, on the road to Bamian, where we en
camped. The wheat and barley had been
cut, but we saw crops of horse beans and
other pulse, and some rice, but it was low,
and appeared backward. In the vicinity of
the village I found the prangos growing,
though but a span high ; it was here called
kamai, and used for winter forage for cattle
and horses : five pounds of it ground to coarse
powder, and mixed with double the quantity
of wheat or barley-chaff, is an allowance for
a horse for a day and night, and is said to
fatten him more readily than any other kind

382 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
of food. On the following day we made a
short move to Sir-Cheshme (the head of the
springs), the head of the long valley up which
we have marched, where we were to lay in a
stock of barley for our horses, as the crops
in advance were yet green. On my way to
the fort of Aziz Khan, the Hazara manager
of the district for Dost Mohammed, I passed
a small pond, filled by a stream from a holy
spring, which was so full of trout as to baffle
description or credibility. They were held
sacred, and were exceedingly tame. On the
21st of March, to a day, according to the re
port of the people, the fish desert the pond
for the rivulet that waters the valley. It is
then lawful to catch them. Besides this spring,
there are others in the same locality, the
waters of which unite, and the rivulet result
ing from their confluence is the head of the
Jui Shir, running past Kabul.
The valley of Mydan contains about thirty-
five thousand inhabitants, Tajiks and Haza-
ras ; they are both cultivators, and the latter
are also soldiers and marauders. The revenue
is said to be ten thousand rupees in specie,
and eight thousand in grain. The district

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 383
had been taken from Habib Ullah by Dost
Mohammed, who had made it over to Amir
Mohammed Khan ; he again had granted it
to Zulficar Khan, with a portion of the reve
nue, on condition of his furnishing, when re
quired, an armed force of one hundred foot
men and twelve horsemen. At Lower Ta^
hina I saw some shaftal, or clover, cut for
seed, and never saw ground so covered with
hay of any kind. After the seed is trodden
out, the chaff, mixed with wheat and barley-
chaff, is given to horses as winter forage.
Almost all the troop horses of Kabul are win
tered at Mydan, on this food and lucerne, at
the cost of two or two and a half rupees
a-head, and come out of this feed in the
spring in excellent condition.
The first part of the march on the 24th was
along a narrow defile, of an irregular, but in
the main, ascending elevation. It then de
scended into a ravine, and crossed the upper
or main branch of the Helmand river. It
was here knee-deep, and about ten yards
across, and was said to come from a portion
of the Hindu Kosh, behind the district of

384 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
Pagman, three days' journey distant. Be
yond this the road opened into a valley, in
which stood the village of Gardan Diwar,
where we encamped. Many forts were passed
in the early part of the march, with patches
of cultivation, chiefly of shaftal ; towards the
end of it we saw the naked barley of Tibet,
called here kal jao, and some wheat. Nume
rous parties of Ghiljis were encountered, who
were descending from their mountains into
milder regions for the winter. They had with
them numerous droves of camels, sheep, and
goats ; many of the former were young ones,
and were covered with a blanket, with a hole
for the hump. The furniture and tents of the
people were carried on the camels, as were
their children, and the lambs and sheep when
infirm. The Hunai pass divides Afghanistan
from the country of the Hazaras.
From hence the road proceeded up a zig
zag defile, with a branch of the Helmand,
generally to the right, but frequently crossing
the path; on the left, at no great distance,
was the Kohi Baba range of hills. The road
continued to ascend somewhat steeply to the

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 385
pass of Hajikak* ; the total ascent during the
day was about three thousand feet. The pass
is dangerous and difficult in winter, as it is
exposed to snow drifts from every quarter.
From its summit the road descends into the
district of Kalu, between a ridge of high hills
on the right, and a rough, irregular valley on
the left, extending to the foot of the Kohi
Baba mountains. From the latter a rapid
rivulet descended, which, we were told, passes
by Ghori to the Oxus ; beyond it, on some
level eminences, were the forts of Kalu, be
longing to the Darghun tribe of the Hazaras.
The parent clan, who spread from near Herat,
and from Sykan, on the borders of Turkistan,
to the frontiers of Afghanistan, are said to be
descended from a portion of the Mongols, left
here by Holaku Khan. Their physiognomy,
however, indicates a very different origin, and
from the formation of their heads, and fea
tures of their faces, I should be disposed to
class them with the Tibetans, the Nepalese,
and the Mugs : a connexion with the same
races seems to be indicated also by the traces
* It is twelve thousand four hundred feet above the sea. Burnes,
i. 181.— Ed.
VOL. LI. 2 C

386 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
of a common religion, afforded by the topes
of Amarakhel and Jelalabad, and the figures
and devices on the coins found in the same
situations. The character of the country
through which we had latterly passed re
minded us strongly of Ladakh ; the .vegetable
productions were greatly similar ; we had the
naked barley and the prangos smaller, but
abundant, and the rhubarb with circular un
broken leaves was in great profusion. Its
medicinal virtues are unknown, but it is ex
tensively used, both raw and dressed, as a
fruit and a vegetable ; the leaves are also col
lected, and piled up in dry places as winter
fodder for cows.
The 25th brought us to Bamian. In the
first part of the journey the road was very
rough, and irregular along the sides of the
hills, ascending to the pass of Kalu, which
was still more elevated than that of Hajikak.
It then descended to the valley of Bamian,
passing by the small fort of Topchu. Farther
on we crossed the Bamian river, which run
ning westward, is joined by that of Kalu.
The valley then became level and grassy, and,
as it approached Bamian, widened to about

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 387
one thousand two hundred yards across. We
encamped between two channels of the river,
in front of the fort of the deputy-governor of
the district. Upon our left, and in front, rose
the perpendicular rock, in which are the two
celebrated idols, and the whole face of which
was honeycombed with caves.
Bamian has usually attached to it the de
signation of Bhut,. or Idol-Bamian, from two
remarkable statues carved on the face of the
rock in its vicinity. The ancient city, called
Gulgula, stood on and around a detached co
nical hill, which is covered with extensive
ruins, and remains of buildings are strewn all
over the valley, showing it to have been for
merly the site of a numerous population.
Utensils of copper and brass, and coins are
frequently found, and writings, said to be in
Persian and Arabic, as well as some unknown
language, are sometimes discovered. Accord
ing to the Mohammedan traditions, Gulgula
was built by Jelal-ud-din, King of Khwarism ;
but it seems probable, that although it may
have been enlarged and improved by him, it
may boast of much higher antiquity. The
hill had been fortified, and its interior was
2 c 2

388 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
pierced with caves, communicating with the
surface, and containing the remains of reser
voirs, no doubt of water, for the use of the
garrison. Of the two colossal idols cut out of the rock,
opposite to the hill on which stood the city,
one larger than the other is called Sang-sal,
or Rang-sal, and is said to represent a male ;
the smaller, called Shah-muma, is considered
to be a female ; but the general appearance
and costume of both are essentially the same,
and indicate no difference of sex. On either
side of the figures are numerous caves exca
vated in the rock, usually with vaulted roofs,
which were sometimes carved with flowers.
The figures stand in porches or recesses cut
out of the rock, the upper part of which is
arched, so as to form an alcove or vaulted
canopy over the head of the figure ; the sides
advance so as to form wings, in which are
staircases ascending to a gallery behind the
neck of the statue, whilst other galleries run
off from their sides, right and left, into the
rock. The flights of steps of the larger image
were so much decayed as to be inaccessible,
but one of those on the side of the smaller

CH. 11.] AND BOKHARA. 389
was tolerably entire, and led to the head of
the figure. Both figures have been mutilated,
by order, it is said, of Aurangzeb. The faces
and fore arms of both were knocked off, and
a thigh of the larger was broken. They are
both clad in long loose robes, descending be
low the knee. The height of the smaller
figure was one hundred and seventeen feet ;
that of the larger we could not measure, but
it must have been about one-third more. The
inside of the alcove, or top of the porch, was
covered with fresco paintings of flying figures,
and a border contained various half-length
figures, whose heads were invested with a
halo. Paintings of this kind had descended
to within thirty feet of the ground, but the
plaster had, for the most part, peeled off. An
embellishment of the ground, a white ball
with a pyramid rising from it, a common or
nament of sculpture in Tibet, was frequent
here. Four figures under the spring of the
arch of the alcove were of very beautiful deli
neation, and painted with much delicacy of
colouring; below them was the head of a
male figure, which resembled in expression
the divinity called, by the Tibetans, Cham-ba.

390 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
At the western end of the range which we
ascended we found a number of caves, one of
which, of a quadrangular form, displayed con
siderable architectural decoration. The front
had fallen in, but the sides were made up of
fluted and square pillars, with and without
capitals, at intervals not greater than the
breadth of a pillar. The roof was carved so
as to represent tiers of beams crossing each
other at angles, and diminishing their dis
tance as they ascended, until they left an oc
tangular space of about twenty inches only,
imitating the roof of a log-house in Tibet and
Kashmir. The pillared cells communicated
by a gallery with a large vault, and beyond
that with a chamber fifty-three feet long,
thirty-eight broad, and forty high, along the
sides of which were a number of small arched
recesses, in which the vestiges of fresco paint
ings might be discovered, although impaired
by time and blackened by smoke. At the
end, opposite to the entrance, a large recess
indicated the site of a statue, and a small por
tion of frieze at the angle of the arch showed
the perfection to which the art of sculpture
had been brought at the period when the

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 391
chamber was constructed. This was about two
feet and a half long, and eighteen inches
broad, divided, as to its subject, into three com
partments : a superior and inferior fillet con
tained representations of pheasants in high
relief; the middle band consisted of foliage;
and the whole was executed with singular
truth and spirit.
The origin and use of these excavations are
matters of speculation. According to an ac
count given us by an old and intelligent native
of Bamian, dead bodies have been occasion
ally found in subterranean chambers in con
siderable numbers, and which have fallen to
dust upon being exposed to the air. It is not
impossible, therefore, that part of these exca
vations may have served as catacombs ; but I
have no doubt that they were also, as indeed
they still are to a certain extent, habitations
of the living. My own conviction, from -the
character of the buildings, of the caves, paint
ings, and sculptures, is, that Bamian, what
ever its ancient appellation, was the residence
of a great Lama, bearing the same relation to
the Lamaism of the west, as Lhassa does now
to that of the east. The name of the smaller

392 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
idol, Shah-muma, is evidently only a corrup
tion of Shak-muni ; but this is evidence of
minor importance. From a somewhat inti
mate acquaintance, however, with the struc
tures used as monasteries in Ladakh and
Chanthan, I am legitimately empowered to
say that those excavations which were con
nected by means of galleries and staircases
constituted the accommodations of the higher
orders of the Lama clergy, and that the in
sulated cells and caves were the dwelling-
places of the lower classes of the monastic so
ciety, as gelums and anis, monks and nuns,
and as serais or hostels for visitors. The laity
inhabited the adjoining city*.
At a comparatively modern period the de
struction of Gulgula is attributed to Jangez
Khan, who, from some cause not now remem
bered, being highly exasperated with the

* Bamian has since been visited by Captain Burnes (.Travels
to Bokhara, vol. i.) and Mr. Masson (Journal Asiatic Society of
Bengal, Nov. 1836). Their accounts generally agree with those
of our text, except that they have a lower estimate of the height
of the two principal images, which they suppose to be severally one
hundred and twenty and seventy feet. In one of the caves, Mr.
Masson writes, he saw " the names of W. Moorcroft, G. Trebeck,
and W. Guthrie, written with charcoal." — Ed.

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 393
people, came upon them suddenly, put them
without mercy to the sword, and overturned
and demolished the place. It was said that
at a day's journey from Bamian, to the south
west, were the remains of an extensive for
tress, called Bandeh Berber, erected near a
large lake.
We were detained two days at Bamian, in
consequence of the reported dangers of the
road; a chief, named Ali Gohar, a depend
ant upon the government of Bamian, being in
rebellion, and plundering the caravans. A
letter from AUahdad Khan was addressed to
Mohammed Ali Beg, at Sykan, to request his
protection of us through his country ; and he
shortly sent word that he awaited us at the
pass of Ak-robat, with two hundred horse,
which he would double should there be any
appearance of danger. We therefore started
on the 28th. The road was rough and irregu
lar, ascending to the fort of Ak-robat, a small
mud-fortress with a round tower : a further
ascent led to the summit of the pass of the
same name, which is about the elevation of
those of Hajikak and Kalu. To our north the
mountains were much less lofty than those we

394 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
had crossed, and were all bare. We here en
tered Sykan, and were met by Ali Beg, a
Tajik, who was the chief of the district. We
accordingly took leave of AUahdad Khan and
Zulficar Khan, with our Afghan escort, after
a discussion in which the former attempted to
extort from me a most exorbitant remunera
tion for his attendance. He had received
from me four hundred rupees, and I offered
him three hundred more, which, as the main
tenance of the party had fallen on me,
amounted to above one thousand one hundred.
He however rated his services at a much
higher value, and asserted that it was for my
credit and name to pay at least some three
or four thousand rupees, and that Sultan
Mohammed Khan had desired him to receive
no less. Satisfied that this was as false as
the demand was unreasonable, I persisted in
my first offer, and the Khan was at last com
pelled to be contented with what he could get.
Notwithstanding my confidence in the friend
ship of Sultan Mohammed Khan, I felt as if
a load was taken off my breast on quitting the
Afghan territory, such were the intrigue and
villany I had witnessed, and the perilous situ-

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 395
ations from which I had with difficulty, but I
trust with honour, emerged. We encamped
on the 29th near the village of Sykan.
The chief article of the commerce of this
place is assafcetida, of which about two hun
dred maunds are gathered annually from
plants that grow wild upon the mountains.
In the spring the earth is partly removed from
about the root, and the stem and' leaves cut off
close to the ground ; a juice exudes from the
surface, which, when dried, is scooped off; a
slice is then cut from the root, and the juice
exudes again from the fresh surface ; this is
repeated a third and a fourth time. A root of
a good size yields about half a pound of the
dried juice. Another article of commerce is
slaves ; Mohammed Ali Beg, in conformity
with the practices of his neighbours, and, as
he professes, only in the way of retaliation,
making incursions upon the Uzbeks and Ha-
zaras, and carrying off their population for
sale. He was an officer of Mir Kalich Ali, of
Khurm, and since his death has raised himself
to importance. He has twenty-five forts in
Sykan and the vicinity, and is extending his
power. He was very urgent with us to stay

396 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
with him and aid him in an attack upon
Khulm, which he was confident of mastering
with our assistance.
On the two following days we left the Sykan
territory by the pass of Bala-farash, and pro
ceeded along the valley of Kamur, the chief
of which was a feudatory of Murad Beg, of
Kunduz ; thence we proceeded over alter
nations of hill and valley to the fort of Do-
aba, surrounded by black tents of felt, and a
few stone houses, the residence of an Uzbek
population, under a Malik of the same nation.
Thevalley continued to Rohu,where the people,
who were Hazaras, called themselves Habsh,
pretending to be of Arabian origin. They were
rich in cattle, having aboutthree hundred brood
mares, and many black cattle and sheep : the
former were of an indifferent kind ; the latter
were broad-tailed. Hitherto all the sheep we
had seen had been brown-legged and brown-
headed ; many at this place had white heads,
and some were wholly white or black. . They
were long in the body and very fat, and the
mutton was excellent. The wool was coarse,
and the price varied from two to four rupees a
sheep.

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 397
Our next halting place was Khurm, where
we arrived on the 3rd of September. It is a
long narrow town, on the banks of a rivulet,
which had accompanied the road from the
valley of Doaba. The houses were rudely
built of lumps of limestone, with flat roofs of
clay ; many were unoccupied, their tenants
quitting them at this season to take their
flocks to distant pastures, and residing in felt
tents. Even about the town the tents were
pitched in the orchards for the summer habi
tation, where the members of each family
were engaged in weaving cloth, made of the
wool of their own sheep, or watching their
crops, chiefly of panic, kangni, and fern,
growing under the fruit trees. Wheat and
barley are also grown. The management of
orchards in this country is carried to a great
extent. It seems to matter little what the
nature of the soil may be, as long as there is
abundance of water. Apples, pears, peaches,
plums, walnuts, are all cultivated; but the
apricot is the staple of the district, and the
people of Khurm assert that theirs is the best
in Turkistan,— a claim contested only by the
apricots of Aibek. The vines were of several

398 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
kinds, and were trained over the top of the
likhe, or white thorn. The willow, poplar,
and aspen, along the river attained a great
size, and the Sanjid was beautifully loaded
with fruit. We were rather too early for the
fruit season. The whole course of the river
was richly fringed with orchards. In some
places on the road we noticed an ingenious
adaptation of a natural process to the con
struction of solid dykes : the neighbouring
mountains are of limestone, and the water,
though beautifully clear, was fully charged
with that earth. It therefore deposited a
quantity of tufa or stalactite as it rolled some
what sluggishly along, on any stones placed
to intercept or confine its stream, and thus
cemented them in a short time into a substan
tial wall. In one part of our route, at a place
called Ghazi Mir, the level of the river was
higher than the road, but it was prevented
from overflowing by a walled bank of this
construction. The inhabitants of Khurm seem to be in
more comfortable circumstances than any we
have met with for some time. They call
themselves Tajiks, but have no tradition of

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 399
their origin. They are evidently a mixed
race, some of them with remarkably large
heads and features, some with small heads
and sharp lineaments. The complexion of
the men was dark, but that of the girls and
young women fair, although they had all
black hair and eyebrows, the latter as regu
larly arched as if they had been pencilled;
they were generally pretty, almost handsome.
Persons of both sexes, and of all conditions,
crowded into my tent, but they were remark
ably good-humoured and civil, and their Mul
lahs apologized for their intrusion, by repre
senting that they had never seen a European
before. I could not learn that any remains
of antiquity were known to them, except the
ruins of a mud fort which we had passed on
our road, and which they said had been con
structed by the Kafirs before the time of the
Mohammedans. A continuation of the same valley led to
Jas-bagh, a place of a similar character as
Khurm, but less extensive, and thence to
Aibek, the residence of Mohammed Ah
med Beg, the second son of the late Mir
Kalich Ali, who had assumed the title of

400 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
Wali, or Protector of Balkh. On hearing of
the demise of his father, who, in reply to my
letters from Kashmir, had promised me his
protection on visiting his country, as I pro
posed, I wrote to him letters of condolence
from Jas-bagh, and intimated my purpose of
waiting upon him. His authority over Aibek
was that of a feudatory to Murad Beg, the
Khattagan Chief of Kunduz, who, upon the
death of Kalich Ali, had taken advantage of
disputes amongst the three elder sons bf that
chief to extend his own possessions. In this
he was assisted by Baba Beg, the second son,
through whose treachery the elder brother
and heir was removed by poison ; in reward
for which he had been invested with the go
vernment of Khurm. The third son, our new
acquaintance, had endeavoured to assert his
independence, and occupied Aibek. He was
unable, however, to cope with the superior
power of Murad Beg, and was compelled to
acknowledge him as his superior for that dis
trict. Balkh he held of the King of Bok
hara. Report spoke favourably of the young
man's abilities and general conduct, and I in
dulged a hope that he would extend to me

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 401
the friendship of which his father had made
several demonstrations. The first view of
Aibek was rather imposing, presenting a castle
on an insulated eminence, surrounded by
houses with cupola roofs, with a projecting
chimney in the centre. On a nearer approach
it was found that many of the houses were
tenantless and in ruins ; the people, however,
seemed busy in preparations for their repair.
Aibek is famous for its apricots, which, when
dried, are largely exported to Bokhara and
Astrakhan. When dried with the stone they
are sold at two Kabul sers for a rupee : they
are also split and strung with other kinds, in
which form they are called khista, and are
sold at one ser for a rupee. The chief culti
vation round Aibek was millet, of which three
sorts were reared : it grew to the height of
three feet, and yielded double the weight of
wheat on the same soil. On approaching Ai
bek, the mountains on either hand receded,
the climate had become much warmer, and
the fruit had been some time gathered.
Shortly after we had encamped the Wali
came to visit us : he was about twenty-four,
with Uzbek features, but not unpleasing ex-
VOL. II. 2 D

402 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
pression : he was very civil, and assured us
that he looked upon us as old friends, in con
sequence of our intercourse with his late .
father. He stated that the ancient name of
Aibek was Simingan, and that it was the re
sidence of the father of Rudaba, the wife of
the hero Rustam; that at the time when it
was destroyed by Jangez Khan, the build
ings extended to the foot of the Yetimtal
mountains, nearly, a day's march in advance
of us. According to tradition there were
seven thousand Hindu families in the town,
most of whom were exterminated by the con
queror. At present there were scarcely any
Hindus in the country, and those were merely
temporary sojourners, who had no families.
To my inquiry after ancient remains, he in
dicated a place in the vicinity, dignified with
the title of Takhti Rustam, to which he ac
companied us on the following day.
About a mile to the west of the fort we
found an isolated hill in which were a num
ber of excavations ; one of these, called the
apartment of Rudaba, consisted of a square
vestibule, and a circular chamber with a cu
pola ceiling : the former was now open at top,

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 403
but appeared to have had a roof formerly:
the latter was thirty-two feet in diameter, and
twenty-six feet high, with an opening in the
roof, at the part farthest from the entrance,
to admit light and let out smoke.
In the centre of the dome was a large me
dallion, much defaced, but from the circum
ference of it were distinctly seen large leaves
like those of the calyx of the lotus, spreading
towards the lower edge of the dome, at the
meeting of which with the walls, a broad cor
nice extended round the room. From this
chamber an inner corridor, following the face
of the wall, one hundred and thirty-two feet
long, by sixteen and a half feet broad, led to
another circular and vaulted chamber, of about
thirty-seven feet in diameter, but much blocked
up by rubbish. The room was of a similar cha
racter with the first, but the style of decora
tion was widely different. There were several
other excavations, but these were the most
worthy of notice *.
On the shoulder of a ridge of hills facing
the west, a few hundred yards from the exca-
* The manuscript refers to a drawing, which has not been re
ceived.
2 d 2

404 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
vated hill, was situated the throne of Rustam.
This consisted of a small and insignificant
square edifice, remarkable chiefly from its
site. It stood upon a conical mound with a
tabular summit, which had been cut off from
the rest of the mountain by a deep trench all
round it. The trench was cut into an inclined
plane, and opened by a vaulted passage
through the surrounding belt of rock into the
valley. The building proved to have been
part of the original rock ; the interior con
sisted of a conical cell, entered by a vaulted pas
sage, of a man's height, whilst on the top of it,
which was level and solid, was a sort of basin
or well. On the western front, beyond the
trench, were several platforms on a kind of
rampart, which had been scarped in front, and
within which was a spacious vaulted chamber,
part of the front of which had fallen into the
fosse. Several small cells were observed in
the sides of the ditch. There were no traces
of steps from the bottom of the ditch to the
top of the mound, but the fallen fragments
now afforded means of ascending. From some
niches in its edge, corresponding with similar
ones in the side of the rampart on the original

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 405
hill, it should seem that a sort of drawbridge
formerly connected them. The height of the
mound was seventy-four feet ; the circumfer
ence of the top we omitted to measure, but
the house was twenty feet square ; the cell
within it was about seven feet in diameter ;
the passage about eight feet long by nearly
six feet high and four broad. It gave a loud
echo to sounds uttered in the cell. Tradition,
as the name imports, assigns this structure to
Rustam, and he is said to have drank wine from
the basin in the upper platform ; but a more
inconvenient position for the consequences of
strong potations can scarcely be conceived,
and we cannot accede, therefore, to the notion
that Rustam made merry in such a situation.
It is difficult, however, to conjecture with any
confidence, what could have been the object
of the structure. The excavations in the
mountains, in connexion with those in Afghan
istan, at Bamian, and others observed on the
whole road hither, and with the topes of the
Panjab, and the figures at Bamian, would
seem to intimate its being the work of a
Buddhist people. It differs, however, so much
from anything we saw in Tibet, that I cannot

406 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
acquiesce in such an appropriation. It has
much more the character of an altar, and might
be thought to have been a fire-altar of the an
cient Guebers of Bactria, the first seat of the
religion of Zerdusht. There was no appear
ance, however, of discoloration, such as might
have been expected from the action of fire,
and this conjecture, therefore, must be aban
doned. That it was an altar, however, de
rived some confirmation from a number of
deep notches in the edges of the basin on the
upper platform, evidently made with a sharp
cutting instrument, the axe or knife, perhaps,
used in slaying the victims sacrificed. Were
the altars erected by Alexander sacrificial or
commemorative 1 If the former, may not this
mound have been either his work, or that of
some of the Greek princes of Bactria, within
which kingdom Aibek must have been com
prised ? I could find no traces of inscriptions
nor any coins ; and the origin of the mound of
Aibek, the throne of Rustam, must be left to
the determination of those better qualified
and more favourably circumstanced for the
prosecution of the inquiry.

CH. II.] AND BOKHARA. 407
The rock in which these works were dis
covered was limestone, and the sides exposed
large masses of organic substances, nearly as
hard as quartz, semi transparent, and resem
bling madrepore.

408 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.

CHAPTER III.
Return of Messengers to Kunduz — Unfavourable Reports — Ad
vance — Excavations of Bazar Sum — Horses — Houses — Tangi
— Khulm or Tash Kurghan — Baba Beg — Visit to Kunduz —
Yang Arekh— Reservoirs — Pass of Arganna — Plain of Kunduz
Ghori river— Town and Fort — Atma Ram — Audience of Murad
Beg — Suspicions of the Chief — Difficulties — Enemies — Persian
cannon — Return to Khulm — Delays — Exorbitant Duties — De
parture of Mir Izzet Ullah— Summons to Kunduz— Detention
Charge of being a Spy — Removal of Goods to Kunduz — Izzet
Ullah's return — Audience — Military expedition of Murad Beg.
On the 7th of September, Mir Fazl Hak and
Mir Wazir Ahmed arrived at Aibek. They
had crossed the Hindu Kosh and visited
Kunduz, where they had delivered my letters
to the chief, but unfortunately the Dewan
Begi, Atma Ram, was absent in a distant
part of the country, and my letter and pre
sents to him were not delivered. Some evil
disposed persons, it appeared, had been en
deavouring to prejudice Murad Beg against
us. The English, they said, never entered

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 409
into any part of Asia but for interested pur
poses, and ultimately became its masters. It
was asserted that our party was strong in sol
diers and cannon, and that in consequence of
our interference in the affairs of Kabul, a large
portion of the fine intended to be levied on
Mir Mohammed Ali had been remitted, whilst
the money with which we had supplied Sultan
Mohammed had enabled him to make him
self governor of the city. These imputations
had been warmly refuted by Mir Wazir Ahmed,
and the result of the discussion was, in his
opinion, entirely favourable to us. We there
fore resumed our journey, in the hope that no
difficulties or dangers were before us, although
the character of Murad Beg, the Kattaghan
chief of Khulm, Kunduz, Talikan, Inderab,
Badakhshan, and Hazrat Imam, forbad our
feeling entirely secure. We left Aibek on the
8th ; the baggage followed the direct road,
but we kept more to the left, in order to visit
some excavations to which the Wali had di
rected us.
At about twelve miles from Aibek, where
the cultivated ground of the valley terminated
in bare and rugged swells, leading to a range

410 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
of low hills, we found a set of caves, called the
Hazar Sum, or thousand houses, excavated
in the face of a platform of stalactite deposit.
They were in two tiers, built in arches, gene
rally from twelve to twenty feet broad, and
the same height, but partly choked with dust
and rubbish and animal excrement. Niches
were worked in the walls, and one was larger
than the rest, as if for the reception of an
image. In one of them I observed marks of
vermilion, and traces of letters which, though
mutilated, resembled strongly the common or
vulgar character of Tibet. The largest apart
ments had been plastered, and washed either
white or black. The lower range of apart
ments communicated with the upper by pas
sages, but they were in total darkness, and
not having torches with us, we were unable to
explore them. Coins and ornaments, it is
said, are sometimes found ; but we did not
meet with any remains, except some frag
ments of a cream-coloured pottery. These
caves are the reputed haunts of wild beasts
and of robbers, and it was unsafe to linger in
their neighbourhood.
From Aibek to the foot of the mountains

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 411
was about eight miles. There were several
towns in ruins, having been destroyed by
Murad Beg, who had made slaves of their in
habitants. There still remained a number of
inhabited villages, and the land, where culti
vated, was well tilled and watered. Every
village had large droves of brood mares, and
they were more numerous than cows : they
were generally about fourteen hands high,
something too long in their bodies, but in
other respects well formed. They would
have been well worth from two hundred and
fifty to three hundred rupees in Hindustan :
here they were purchaseable for a toman, or
a toman and a half, or from twenty to thirty
rupees. The country is said to abound in
deer and other game, and a part of the moun
tains to the right has the appellation of Kani
Kansa (Bear-mine). All the houses were
built with domes. There is little timber in
the country, except that of the fruit trees;
and the scarcity of this article, which pro
bably drove the ancient inhabitants to live in
caves, has occasioned the adoption of vaulted
roofs. Each chamber in a house has its own
dome, with a square opening in the roof for

412 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
light and ventilation. The walls are built of
stiff clay with pebbles, the roofs of sun-dried
bricks, coated with a luting of clay and
chopped straw. A family house consists of
three chambers, and is enclosed by a clay
wall, and costs about thirty or forty rupees.
These houses are very comfortable, and are
well suited to a climate where the snow of
winter seldom falls heavily or lies long, and
where the rain that falls in spring and autumn
is never violent.
The road to Ghizni Yek continued over
rough and uneven ground, and along a nar
row and ill cultivated valley, in which scarcely
any tree but the tamarisk presented itself.
It then narrowed to a pass between a small
stream and a ridge of rocks, called Tangi.
The strait continued more or less contracted,
till, at about twelve miles from that village, it
passed through a narrow gorge for a few hun
dred paces, and then opened upon a view of
Khulm. Crossing a rivulet, we began to
march over a hard gravelly plain. The
mountains receded on either hand, and the
plain in prospect was, in appearance, as flat
and unbroken as that of India on emerging

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. ' 413
from the Himalaya. The change from the
arid and rocky defiles we had traversed to
the orchards and domed houses of Khulm, or
Tash Kurghan, was highly grateful.
We had been met on our way from Ghizni
Yek by a Hindu custom officer, named By-
sakhi Ram, whose business it was to count
our packages, and report to his superiors. He
was also sent to act as our guide, and led us
to the skirts of the town, where we encamped.
We were soon visited by crowds of Uzbeks
and by a number of Hindus, settled in the
town as merchants and traders. The latter,
by their conversation and familiarity, mixed
with much respect, claimed us as old ac
quaintances, and were evidently glad to meet
with persons whom, notwithstanding the dif
ference of creed and complexion, they had
learnt to look upon as friends and protectors.
The Uzbeks were very civil, but exceedingly
curious. Baba Beg, the ruler of Tash Kurghan, as
before noticed, was absent on our arrival.
His return was scarcely announced to us
when it was reported that he was entering
the gateway of the enclosure in which we

414 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
were encamped. I left my seat to meet him,
and had scarcely advanced twenty paces
when I saw a short, thick-set person, about
thirty-five, clothed in an outer vest of flame-
coloured silk, with an inner dress of black
satin. On my approach to embrace him in
the usual manner, he somewhat repelled me,
and I merely, therefore, took his hand, and
led him into the building I had occupied, and
seated him on a chair. He then coldly bade
me welcome, and inquired the object of my
visit. To my account of my being a mer
chant he observed this was a bad country for
trade. Turning to one of my people, he in
quired of him if he was a Mohammedan,
and, being answered in the affirmative, he
asked the man if he could find no other ser
vice than that of Kafirs (Infidels) ? On this
I remarked that his father would not have
asked such a question, and that the man, be
ing no subject of his, was not accountable to
him for his conduct. This somewhat checked
him, and, after a time, he became rather
more polite. He informed, us that he had
been commanded by his chief to send us on
to Kunduz, and to furnish an escort for our

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 415
journey, and with this, however inconvenient
and undesirable, I was ultimately obliged to
comply. Taking with me Mir Izzet Ullah,
and a handsome present for Mir Murad Beg,
of English broadcloth, chintzes, muslin, silk,
a double-barrelled gun, and double-barrelled-
pistol, we departed for Kunduz on the 16th of
September. On setting out we crossed a ledge of the
mountains which are in the immediate neigh
bourhood of the town, and had then on our
right, or to the south, those mountains, run
ning east and west. On the east the horizon
was bounded by a chain of mountains, cross
ing from north to south. Before us to the
north was an extensive plain, which, with
exception of the ruins of ancient Khulm, and
tbe remains of its orchards, was a desert,
bearing little else than camel's thorn. Traces
of former cultivation were, however, discover
able. At the distance of about nine miles
we came to the town of Yang Arekh (New
River) founded by Abdulla Khan, who go
verned this country in the reign of Akbar
Shah, and who induced many Hindus to set
tle here, whose descendants still exist. The

416 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
town has been much reduced of late in ex
tent and population, but it may contain
about one thousand houses. It is supported
chiefly by its filatures of raw silk. This is
of two kinds, white and yellow, and is ex
ported to Kabul and Peshawar. It is worthy
of note that the pans in which the water is
heated are of cast-iron, manufactured in
Russia. The water of the Khulm river
reaches little beyond Yang Arekh, and the
plain remains sterile through want of irriga
tion : this, however, might be easily managed
under a steady government, as the level is
rather below that of the Oxus, and the whole
distance from the river to the mountains to
the south is not above two miles. We halted
at Yang Arekh.
At about seven miles on the road on the
following day we crossed the hills coming
from the north, at the pass of Shaibaghli,
neither very lofty nor very difficult. The
descent led to another plain of a similar char
racter to that which we had crossed : it was
enlivened, however, by the occasional en
campments of shepherds and flocks of sheep.
These seemed to be in good condition, but

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 417
the wool was coarse: they are an article of
export to Yarkand. Neat cattle of an infe
rior sort were also grazing on the plain in
considerable numbers. We were obliged to
make a long march on this day, as no water
was found at the abdan, or reservoir, where it
had been intended to halt: we had, there
fore, to continue our march to the foot of a
range of low hills, in which another reservoir,
the third on the road, was situated. These
reservoirs are constructed of brick, covered
over by a dome, and were formerly fed by a
canal from Yang Arekh : they seem now to
derive their supply from the rain alone, and
the water in them was yellow and fetid.
There was, however, a sufficiency in the
third, or Abdan Bash, and we were not fas
tidious as to its quality. At this place the
sides of the hills were plentifully peopled by
the bushy-tailed rat, the Mus Hamster of
Pallas. A large spotted lizard was also fre
quent, burrowing in holes in the ground.
I had scarcely laid down to rest when Izzet
Ullah came to inform me that a portion of
our escort had received orders frbm Kunduz
to return to Tash Kurghan on the following
vol. n. 2 E

418 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
morning, and bring from thence the whole of
our party. Looking upon this as of evil
augury, I determined to send back the men
of my own whom I had brought with me,
and wrote to Mr. Trebeck to desire him to
avoid moving, if possible ; hoping that I might
be able to prevail upon Murad Beg to retract
his orders.
We were early on horseback on the 18th,
and ascended the pass of Arganna, whence
the plain of Kunduz came in view, level and
broad like the others, but bounded every
where, except to the north, by mountains, of
which those of Badakshan, to the south-east,
were covered with snow. In the early part
of our march we passed the village of
Akserai, a few houses on a rivulet, which we
crossed by a temporary bridge. Farther on
we were entangled amongst swamps, thickly
overgrown with rushes, amidst which the
paths occasionally united in one narrow
track, scarcely broad enough for a single
horseman. These terminated on the left
bank of the Ghori river, which was about
fifty yards across. One of its heads, as has
been observed, was the water of Doaba, and

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 419
at about a day's journey to the north it falls,
along with six other streams, into the Oxus
at Killa Zal.
At three miles from this, to the north, we
reached Kunduz, and after passing through a
mean bazar, were conducted into the old fort,
part of which was in a ruinous condition. In
an angle of the fort, in a wooden porch, we
found the minister, Atma Ram, attended by a
number of followers. Seats were given us,
and a conversation ensued, in which a sort of
apology was offered for the message requiring
the presence of our whole party ; the Mir, it
was said, being anxious to see us all. Tea
was served, and a matted chamber was as
signed to me for my accommodation. In the
evening our conductor, the Dewan Begi of
Baba Beg, came to me with an air of concern,
and apprized me that some persons had been
telling strange stories of us to the Mir;
amongst other things, that we had a fortress
concealed in our packages, with artillery which
went off of its own accord, and had the power
of discriminating friends from foes. The chief
of Doaba had come to report that we had
ninety parcels, some of which had discharged
2e 2

420 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
their contents, as he had in some degree wit-.
nessed. Other accounts stated that some of
our chests were full of gold and jewels; and:
these various reports had so stimulated the
curiosity and cupidity of the Mir, that he was
resolved to inspect the whole of our bales and
chests in person. To this I contented myself
with replying, that I had come into the coun
try upon the Mir's own assurances of security
and protection ; that I was in his hands, and
he might use his power ; but that I would not
consent to have my merchandise brought to
Kunduz. That with regard to the examina
tion of the packages, the officers of Baba Beg
at Tash Kurghan might select any three or four
and open them, and compare them with our
lists ; when, if they were found to correspond,
it was hoped that the whole might be passed
in the usual manner. The Dewan Begi said
he should report what I stated, but he repeated
his story so often, that I began to suspect he
was under the influence of a beverage, to
which the Mir himself is said to be addicted,
a strong spirit obtained from camel's milk by
fermentation. On the following morning I had a long con-

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 421
versation with Atma Ram upon our affairs :
¦he seemed to be a reasonable man, and will
ing to accede to my proposals, but had no in
dependent authority. He conducted me to
his master, who, it was announced, expected
us. We left the fort for a new edifice of clay,
surrounded by a moat, which was crossed by
abridge. The gateway opened into a court,
from the opposite front of which a covered
passage led to a second court of considerable
extent. On the right was an area, of which
three sides were flanked by a broad veranda
with a flat roof, supported by wooden pillars ;
the floor was raised above the level of the
¦court about three feet. In this, on our left,
was seated Mir Mohammed Murad Beg, in
the centre of a line of some thirty or forty
courtiers, who were seated on their knees,
with their feet to the wall, their bodies in
clined forwards, and their looks directed to
the ground. On the floor of the area stood
a long line of attendants in front ofthe chief,
isome with white wands, and. all bending their
bodies slightly forward, and declining their
heads. Between them and the veranda, im-

422 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
mediately opposite the chief, sat the Arz Begi,
or presenter of petitions. The whole was
orderly and respectful : not a sound was heard,
nor did a limb move, when Izzet Ullah and
myself advanced and saluted the chief with
the usual Salam Ali-kum. We were desired
to take our places in the next veranda, where
a carpet had been spread for us. A prayer
was then said, after which all present stroked
their beards with the most profound gravity.
The courtiers wore large turbans, and long
loose tunics, either of striped chintz or shot
silk. The Mir sat upon a cushion of China
damask, which raised him above his courtiers.
His tunic was of blue silk, with a sash of the
same, but he wore over it an open coat, appa
rently of wool, of an almond colour : he had
on long brown boots, with high iron-tipped
heels. He appeared to be about forty-five,
and was of a dark complexion, with decided
Uzbek features, and eyes so small, that when
he smiled, which he did frequently, they were
scarcely visible. The attendants were all
very smartly clad in dresses of Bokhara silks,
and the whole had a more uniform and re-

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 423
spectable character than any Asiatic court
at which I was ever present: not a single
person wore any offensive weapons.
The chief, after a short while, said he had
sent for us to satisfy his curiosity and con
verse with us. My presents were laid before
him by one of my servants, of whom he in
quired if he was a Musselman. Prepared
for this question by what had occurred with
Baba Beg, the man replied that he was, and
that hundreds of thousands of Mohammedans
were the servants of the English, whom they
found kind and good masters. The Mir made
no comment, but cast his eyes over the pre
sents, and seemed satisfied with them. He
then commenced a series of questions regard
ing the extent of the British possessions in
Hindustan, the name of the Governor-General,
the amount of the revenue of India in former
times and at present, the nature of our rela
tions with Ranjit Sinh, and why we were not
at war with him. He asked my name, my
age, my place of residence, and the objects of
my journey. Speaking of horses, he inquired
if I was fond of them, and being answered in
the affirmative, ordered some of his to be

424 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
passed before me, desiring me to point out
those of which I most approved ; and, on my
so doing, asked particularly on what points
my opinion of the goodness of a horse was
formed. When this was explained to him,
he observed, that I should not find such horses
as I looked for in his country; his horses were
active and capable of fatigue, more so than
the Turkman, but that I should meet with
good horses at Shehr Sabz and Bokhara.
After some further questions, which he ap
peared to put after much reflection, frequently
pushing up his turban, and passing his hand
across his forehead, he asked if I ate the food
of Musselmans, and being answered that I
did, ordered some bread and slices of melon
to be placed before me ; some pears and
pomegranates were presented to him, and he
distributed them amongst his courtiers: a
plate of them was also handed to us. We
were dismissed with civility, and in the even
ing the chief sent me a fat sheep, with rice
and fruit.
On the evening of the following day Murad
Beg sent for Izzet Ullah, and conversed with
him till late at night. According to the Mir's

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 425
report, the conversation turned upon the Bri
tish power in India, and our military disci
pline and resources. He inquired also mi
nutely into the state of parties in Afghanistan,
indicating a strong disposition to take advan
tage of its distracted condition. He also asked
many questions concerning the political insti
tutions and power of England, and made a
number of just and pertinent remarks on the
difference between them and those of Turk-
istan. With regard to myself, the chief re
marked that he had been informed it was
the practice of Europeans to send spies and
secret emissaries into foreign countries, pre
paratory to their subjugation, and that he had
been informed such was my real character.
To this the Mir replied, that had I been a
spy, I should have come in disguise, not avow
edly as an Englishman, and that I had no
other object than the establishment of a com
mercial intercourse, which would be as bene
ficial to Turkistan as to India. Murad Beg
said this might be, but many were attempting
to deceive him in regard to us, and he was de
termined to judge for himself. Our chests,
he had been informed, contained an immense

426 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
treasure in gold and jewels. This was of
course denied, and he was assured that our
chests contained only such articles as had
been offered to him, of which he might easily
be satisfied, by having some of them opened
by his officers at Tash Kurghan ; that great
inconvenience and expense would be incurred
by removing the whole to Kunduz, and that
I had come into his country in full reliance
upon his good faith and entire confidence in
the contents of his letter. After much hesi
tation Murad Beg at last acceded to the ar
rangement, and the Dewan Begi was ordered
to accompany us to Tash Kurghan.
I may here remark, that the absurdly ex
aggerated accounts of the value of my goods
might be traced to the ingratitude and treach
ery of some of my own people. At Kabul,
the rapacity of Habib Ullah was excited by
the reports of an Englishman, a deserter, of
the name of Lyons, whom I had found in
Kashmir in a state of great destitution, and
had brought with me to Kabul. This man
assured the Afghan he could point out chests
filled with jewels and gold. Similar stories
had been circulated on my subsequent march

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 427
by Khyum Khaja, a native of Hissar, whom I
had been prevailed upon, against my own
judgment, to take into my service at Kashmir.
He became so obnoxious to all the people by
his dishonesty, meanness, and quarrelsome
ness, that I was obliged to discharge him from
my service, but in compassion permitted him
to accompany our caravan, as he would other
wise have run a risk of being taken and made
a slave of on the road to his own home. At
several places on our route we detected him
in exciting suspicion of our objects, and spread
ing exaggerated reports of our wealth, and he
was now one of those who had lab ured, with
a malevolence scarcely conceivable, to preju
dice the mind of Murad Beg against us.
Khyum Khaja was corroborated in his ca
lumnies by a physician of Kabul, settled at
Tash Kurghan, who had endeavoured to force
himself into my employ, and being disap
pointed, repaired to Murad Beg with a tissue
of falsehoods, relating both to Izzet Ullah and
myself. A third enemy was a man who had
been a servant of Mr. Elphinstone, whom he
accompanied to Calcutta. There he became
a professed convert to Christianity, but had

428 JOURNEY TO KABUL [ PART. IV.
returned to Turkistan and to his former faith.
This man, after an audience with Murad Beg,
publicly boasted that he had done for the
Europeans, and had prevailed upon the chief
to put them to death and seize their property.
These two, however, unlike the preceding,
added not ingratitude to malevolence. Ano
ther person from whom I experienced a similar
return for kindness was an Armenian, but he
was the least culpable of the three. The best
servants I have met with in my journeys are
Hindustanis, engaged in their own country.
Those picked up on the road are less entitled
to confidence, but even they are preferable to
natives of any other part of Asia.
A dispatch from Mr. Trebeck, brought by
a courier in nine hours, informed me he had
been much pressed to move with all our bag
gage to Kunduz, but had hitherto persisted in
awaiting fresh instructions from me. He also
expressed himself anxious to join me, as the
idea of his being in safety, whilst I was ex
posed to danger, was intolerable, and he was
satisfied that the owners of the goods in our
charge would never place their preservation in
comparison with my personal security. Baba

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 429
Beg had been very earnest with Mr. Trebeck
to quit Tash Kurghan, assuming a friendly
tone, and warning him against his superior,
who, he said, was a cruel tyrant that would
not scruple to attain his ends by violence.
At the same time he offered to take, privately,
charge of any gold or jewels we might have,
and be responsible for their safe redelivery.
He was thanked for his offers, but was told
that we had nothing to conceal — a reply that
evidently afforded him but little satisfaction.
Before setting out on my return I inspected,
at the desire of the chief, a piece of ordnance
in his possession. It was a brass cannon of
considerable size, cast, as a Persian inscrip
tion denoted, by Yakub Firingi, for the Persian
king, Shah Tamasp ; the vent had been
spiked, and though this might have been re
medied, there was no artificer in Kunduz who
could repair it. The gun had been dragged
hither from Balkh by fifteen pair of oxen.
It had been settled that we should depart
on the 22nd ; but it had occurred to, the chief
that his minister might take the opportunity
of conducting from two to three thousand
sheep to Tash Kurghan, to be sold there in-

430 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
stead of being forwarded to Yarkand, as the
season was far advanced. The passage of
these occupied so long, that our journey was
deferred till the following day. I took the
lead, in the hope of meeting with game, and
roused some pheasants, of which I killed one,
The sedgy land in the neighbourhood of Kun
duz abounds with game, — partridges, phea
sants, the yellow grouse, and hares. In the
desert plain, between this and the left bank
of the Amu or Oxus, deer, foxes, wolves, hogs,
and lions, are numerous ; the latter resemble
those in the vicinity of Hariana. We reached
Tash Kurghan on the afternoon of the 24th.
On the third day after our return the De
wan Begi, with his deputy, Bysakhi Ram,
took from our books the account and particu
lars of our merchandise ; and we also apprized
the Dewan, privately, that we had a small
quantity of pearls and coral, which we did not
wish to produce in public, as their value might
be exaggerated by common report. The
Dewan acquiesced in the prudence of not
publicly noting these articles. He inspected
some of our chests, which he admitted con
tained articles of necessity, not of merchan-

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 431
dise. We invited him to open any of the
bales, but this he postponed, and seemed to
think the business would be easily and speed
ily adjusted. Some days, however, elapsed,
and no further communication was received :
at last, after several applications to the De
wan Begi, Bysakhi appeared and said that
all the bales must be opened. That with re
gard to chintzes, a horse-load was valued at
one hundred and forty pieces, which was here
sold for sixty tilas, of which two were de
ducted for duty. Now the fact was, that the
usual duty was one in forty, not in thirty; but
this was not worth disputing. Broad-cloths,
he said, were never before brought, and their
value could be only decided by actual inspec
tion. To this I objected as injurious to the
articles, and contrary to the arrangement au
thorised by the chief at Kunduz. These fresh
delays appeared to me to be an excuse for ex
torting money. Bysakhi Ram had said, on
the morning of the inspection, he was an
umedwar (an expectant), and was answered,
that his meaning was understood. He wished
to receive a bribe ; but concession in this re
spect would have been criminal and degrading.

432 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
We had professed our readiness to conform to
the usages of the country, and even to go fur
ther, in submitting to have our bales opened
in the manner I proposed — a thing never done
with native merchants. I foresaw a scheme,
either to extort money by bribe, or by exor
bitant duty, or to force a sale at Tash Kurghan,
in order that the Hindus might reap the profit
of a resale at Bokhara. However, I was re
solved not to offer any bribe.
Our prospects continued without improve
ment, and repeated efforts to obtain a specific
demand from the Dewan Begi were fruitless.
At last, through the intervention of a Hindu
trader, it was communicated to us, that nothing
less than a payment of twenty thousand ru
pees would be received in lieu of duties, as
our merchandise was estimated at eight lakhs
of rupees. As this demand was wholly dis
proportionate to the expected out-turn of the
goods, we declared it impossible that we could
accede to it, and offered instead the following
alternatives ; — to pay one in forty upon a lakh
and a half of rupees ; to sell our goods to the
Dewan for a lakh and a half; or to allow him
to open the bales and take one article in each

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 433
forty. To anything beyond this it could not
in justice be expected we should agree. These
proposals, however, were disregarded, and the
demand for twenty thousand rupees was re
iterated. As the case seemed to be hopeless, it be
came necessary to make the best terms we
could for our deliverance from actual durance*
for as matters stood, no Kafila Bashi would
venture to furnish means of transport for our
goods, and the Mir came forward to do what
I had before urged, but what, from feelings
which I could not satisfactorily develope, he
had hitherto evaded, visit the Dewan Begi,
and learn his final determination. He found
the Dewan full of professions, but declaring
his inability to act from himself. It was
finally settled, however, that we should be let
off on payment of the following sums : — Duty,
three thousand seven hundred and fifty ru
pees ; Dewan Begi, one thousand two hun
dred; Bysakhi, three hundred; which, with
the value of the presents to Murad Beg and
his servants, made a total disbursement of
nearly seven thousand rupees.
After the payment of this sum it was pre-
VOL. n. 2 F

434 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
sumed that we might at once prosecute our
journey, but an order was issued by the go
vernor of Tash Kurghan, prohibiting any per
sons from leaving the place, as Murad Beg
had marched on some expedition, and did
not wish information of his departure from
Kunduz to be spread abroad. The Dewan
assured us that he had dispatched a message
to his master to announce that all things
were arranged with us, and that we should
soon have permission to depart. Nine days
passed without news. The Dewan Begi then ,
went to meet the Mir at Kamand, but on the
road was ordered to dispossess the governor
of Ghori, and take his place. No tidings
were received from him up to the 21st of
October, although Bysakhi pretended to ex
pect a letter from him from day to day.
In the mean time our party sustained some
serious losses by defection and disease. Mir
Izzet Ullah Khan, as I have before observed,
had long entertained but indifferent hopes of
the successful prosecution of our journey, and
the transactions at Kunduz were ill calcu
lated to inspirit his expectations. He looked
upon us as little better than prisoners, with a

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 435
very remote prospect of escape ; and, to in
crease his alarm, he was taken ill with the
bilious remittent fever, which prevails in the
country about Kunduz, and despaired of re
covering, a Turkestani, a servant of his, and
another person, a traveller, having recently
died of the complaint. The Mir recovered,
but insisted upon it that he should die if he
remained longer in the country, and, however
reluctant to quit us, he could not resign him
self to the prospect of never seeing his coun-
- try or his family again. I at first withheld
my consent, but his distress was so great that
it excited Mr. Trebeck's compassion as well
as my own, and I gave my permission to his
departure, furnishing him with a letter of re
commendation to the Governor General's
agent at Delhi. On the 19th he departed,
having asked me for the service of Askar Ali
Khan, a friend of his, whom he had intro
duced to me, and who was to return. I di
rected him to endeavour to come back to me
by way of Bajaor, Chitral, and Badakhshan,
so as to ascertain the practicability of avoid
ing Afghanistan. My writer of accounts,
Mir Mahmud, also took his departure. 2 f 2

436 JOURNEY TO KABUL [FART IV.
On the 22nd of October a message arrived
from the Mir to Baba Beg, ordering him to
send the Europeans to Kunduz. Some of
the people of Murad Beg had been severely
wounded in his attack upon the Hazaras of
Kamand, and he required our surgical assist
ance. He also desired we would bring some
of our men, that he might inspect their mili
tary exercise. Although apprehensive that
this was a mere pretext for separating and
weakening us, it was of no avail to resist, and
on the 23rd, therefore, accompanied by Mr.
Guthrie and ten of our escort, I retraced my
steps to Kunduz. On our march, when near
the middle reservoir, we were overtaken by a
sudden storm of wind, which brought with it
such a cloud of dust that it was utterly im
possible to distinguish objects a few feet dis
tant, and the whole of the surrounding at
mosphere was darkened. This happened at
night, but the obscurity continued for several
hours after sun-rise, and we were obliged to
halt the whole time, in the fear of missing our
road. The wind did not abate until the af
ternoon. When we arrived the apartment I
had formerly occupied was in the possession

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. J.J7
of some Turkman horse dealers, and no other
accommodation was provided. The Dewan
Begi was reported to be in consultation with
the chief, and we were glad to lie down on
the floor of a small open chamber, where,
notwithstanding my fatigue, the restless ac
tivity of the fleas precluded all chance of re:
pose. Nothing was heard of the Dewan
Begi till the afternoon of the next day, when
he appeared with Mirza Rahmat, a secretary
of the chief. The countenance of the former
seemed stiffened into a singular hardness of
expression, and he began his discourse by
observing that reports had reached the chief
of his having accepted a bribe of four thou
sand tilas, or twenty-four thousand rupees, to
conclude the arrangement he had made with
us regarding the duties ; that he had informed
the Mir of his having, almost by force, ob
tained from us first one sum and then an
other, in which, by the way, I observed he
said nothing of the one thousand two hun
dred rupees he had himself received, and
that it was unlikely he should have endan
gered all that he owed to his master's bounty
to serve a person whom he had never seen

438 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
before, and might never see again i the Mir,
he said, had been, in some degree, pacified
by his representations, but it seemed as if
much depended upon my reply, and that the
secretary was there to witness it. Although
I had no great reason to be satisfied with
Atma Ram's conduct, I could not be acces
sary to his degradation, or, perhaps, his
murder, and I, therefore, at once observed
that, having actually paid more than the
usual rate of one in forty, it would have been
monstrously absurd in me to have given to
any one four thousand tilas, four hundred, or
even forty. My answer produced an instant
relaxation of his features, and, after observ
ing that Europeans were superior to deceit,
he departed, stating the Mir would see me on
the following morning. Accordingly I waited
on the chief, and made a present to him of
one of the beautiful guns made by Mr. Don-
nithorne. He was highly pleased with it,
and asked if I could make such ? When told
that I could not, he repeated the question to
Gholam Hyder Khan, who was with me, and
received a similar reply. In the course of
conversation he said he had heard that I had

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. J39
been shooting near Kunduz, and that I was
very welcome to pursue the sport wherever I
pleased. I replied that my game lay near
Bokhara, to which I was anxious to proceed as
soon as he would release me. The answer
did not exactly please him, and I was de
sired to withdraw, but, after the Durbar,
many persons congratulated me on my reply,
the question being considered as a trap to
discover if I was desirous of an opportunity
of making myself acquainted- with the coun
try. On the following day the secretary assisted
me in the composition of a memorial, which,
on the next morning, I presented to the Mir,
who said he would inquire into the contents,
it having been represented to him that my
journey was a mere pretence, and that I had
other objects than merchandize or horses. I
had been privately informed by Atma Ram
that the Turkistani above referred to was
the chief author of these calumnies, and I de
sired the Mir to confront me with any person
who would prefer such false accusations.
This, he said, was not possible. I then asked
him how he proposed to inquire. He said he

440 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
would write to the Hakm of Kabul, and Dost
Mohammed Khan. I reminded him that I
had brought a letter from that chief, and that
further reference to him was unnecessary. As
he seemed bent upon some such application,
I referred him to the Sahebzanda, Mir Fazl
Hak, who had gone on to Bokhara, and whose
testimony he admitted would be decisive. He
desired me not to be impatient, as the delay
of two or three weeks would be of no import
ance ; but I hesitated not to express my sense
of his treatment, and told him he might as
well take off my head at once, as cause the
ruin of my property. This, he said, should
be perfectly secure, and, for that purpose,
should be conveyed to Kunduz, where I must
remain : it should not be touched if the bales.
were filled with gold. I was then dismissed,
with the conviction that my goods were ac
tually on the road; and accordingly on the
following day they arrived, with Mr. Trebeck
and the rest of my party. In the evening
also, Mir Izzet Ullah joined us : he had been
stopped by order of Murad Beg, at Ghori,
where he had had a relapse, and, notwith
standing his illness, was compelled to return

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 441
to the unhealthy situation of Kunduz. He
brought with him a letter from the Kohistanis
to Murad Beg, proposing to him to join them
in a descent upon Kabul, in which they en
gaged to establish his authority. The Mir
had also engaged to advocate their applica
tion, an undertaking of which I could not but
disapprove, and I enjoined him, at any rate,
not to implicate us in the negotiation.
It occurred to me, upon consideration, that
I had with me vouchers of which Murad Beg
could scarcely refuse to admit the authority,
in letters from Mahmud Shah, when king of
Kabul ; from Fatteh Khan, the Wazir ; from
Nand Ram, the Dewan ; and from Mir Kalich
Ali Khan, the late Atalik of Khulm. They
were of old date, having been written in
answer to my application when, twelve years
before, I was projecting a journey to Turkis-
tan ; but they were all couched in a friendly
tone, encouraging me to pay them a visit, and
would afford undeniable testimony to my cha
racter. I showed them to the Dewan Begi,
and to the Yesawal of Baba Beg, who had
been formerly in the service of Kalich Ali,
and recognised his signet. They were both

442 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
of opinion that they should be submitted to
the chief, and accompanied me to him for
that purpose. We found him seated on the
floor of the area, in the veranda of which he
usually gave audience ; some strangers were
seated on felts, about twelve yards before him.
In front of him stood the secretary, and Mirza
Yakub, the governor of Kunduz, sat on his
right hand. When we were seated at a similar
distance as the other strangers, I explained
the object of my waiting upon him, and de
livered to him the letters above mentioned.
The secretary read each of them aloud ; but
when he had half-perused that of Kalich Ali,
the patience of Murad Beg was exhausted,
and he broke out into a volley of abuse against
the writers, calling Mahmud Shah an opium
eater, Fatteh Khan a bhang-drinker, and Ka
lich Ali by some equalty abusive epithet,
whilst he addressed me by the appellation of
Kafir. The letters, he said, were twenty-four
years old, and, therefore, of no value. I ob
served that he had made a mistake of twelve
years, and that if the weight of the document
depended upon its date, I could produce one
not twelve months old, a letter of Mir Mo-

CH. III.] AND BOKHARA. 443
hammed Murad Beg, which invited me into
his country, under assurances that I should
experience the same treatment as other fo
reign merchants. As I uttered this with some
warmth, it increased the irritation of the chief,
who talked with a volubility and indistinct
ness which rendered it impossible for me to
comprehend more than the expressions infidel,
and armed men. An individual present, who
I understood was the Governor of Hazrat
Imam, joined the chief in inveighing against
us; but before he had finished his oration
Murad Beg jumped up from his cushion, and
retired hastily into his apartments, on which
the assembly broke up. I remained, for a
short time to collect my papers, and, some
what unluckily, dropped the chief's letter, of
which, however, I had a copy. The result of
this conference had not tended to brighten
our prospects, but it seemed that it had not
the effect of rendering them darker, for on
the following morning Mirza Yakub came to
me for the purpose of allaying any apprehen
sions I might entertain in consequence of our
interview, and assured me from the chief,
that nothing wrong was intended. A similar

444 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
message was repeated on the following day
by a Khajeh Zada, of Balkh. There was no
alternative but patience ; but, apprehensive
that we might be detained under the pretence
that the messenger to Fazl Hakh had not re
turned, I dispatched to Bokhara a servant of
my own, with letters to the Pir Zada, and to
Mir Wazir Ahmed, to apprise them of all that
had occurred.
Whilst we were thus detained, a confede
racy was formed against Murad Beg by the
neighbouring chiefs, amongst whom were the
Wali of Aibek ; Zulfakar Sher, of Siripol ;
Ishan Khan, of Balkh ; the chief of Mazar,
and others ; who had raised a force of eight
thousand men, better equipped and mounted
than those of Murad Beg. He had, however,
increased his force to twenty thousand, by
levies of militia, who held lands on condition
of military service.

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 445

CHAPTER IV.
Favourable testimonials— Return of Wazir Ahmed— Extortion of
Murad Beg— Departure to Khulm— Izzet Ullah's final depar
ture—Absence of Mr. Guthrie— Tash Kurghan— Old Khulm—
Renewed summons to Kunduz — Charges by Mohammed Amin
—Flight of Mr. Moorcroft to Talikan— Appeal to Kasim Jan,
the spiritual guide of Murad Beg— He takes Mr. Moorcroft mr-
der his protection — Interviews with Baba Beg and Khan Jan —
Confronted with Mohammed Amin — The latter dismissed —
Private representations of the Pir Zada — Arrival of Murad Beg
— Final adjustment.
During the absence of the chief, couriers
arrived both from Bokhara and Kabul, in re
ply to his letters, bearing testimony to our
inoffensive character, and our being what we
represented ourselves, merchants. The son
of the Mir who had been left in the fort as
sured us that his father was satisfied that we
had been misrepresented, and that in a few
days we should be at liberty to proceed : days
passed on, however, and no such liberty was
given ; and even after Murad Beg's return no

446 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
notice was taken of us. The child of his
eldest son, Khan Jan, being taken ill, Mr.
Guthrie was ordered to go to Talikan, about
forty miles from Kunduz, where the prince
resided, to prescribe for it. Luckily the com
plaint was not serious, and was subdued with
out his interference. The father of the infant
generously presented him with a coarse striped
cotton gown, worth about three rupees, as a
remuneration for his journey.
Mir Wazir Ahmed, who had gone on our
behalf to Bokhara, and had found in the king
a disposition favourable to our visit to that
city, learning our embarrassments at Kunduz,
came to us to endeavour to effect our extrica
tion. He had been the agent through whose
means the permission of Murad Beg for our
coming had been obtained, and he now adr
jured him, if he had any regard to his cha
racter, not to violate the pledge of safe con
duct which he had given. Murad Beg replied
to his remonstrances, " What have I, what has
an Uzbek to do with character ? Do I not
sit here to plunder the faithful, and shall I
withhold my hands from an infidel?" The
Mirza then said that he would bring disgrace

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 447
upon his Pir Zada, or spiritual guide, Mir Fazl
Hak, by disregarding his intercession, and
this so far weighed with the robber that he
said, as the holy man took an interest in us,
he would let us off for fifty thousand rupees,
otherwise we must have a taste of the summer
of Kunduz. " Tell them," he concluded,
" what I say, and let us hear their reply." My
answer was, that I had no money, and he
might do his pleasure. The Dewan Begi
was then sent to us to endeavour to make
some settlement, and after much discussion it
was agreed that we should be suffered to depart
on payment of ten thousand rupees to the Mir,
and two thousand to Atma Ram. This being
determined, we had an audience of the Beg,
who affected to receive us as friends, and
talked to me of his ailments, and asked me to
prescribe for him ; his civility was evidently
inspired by the complacency he felt at having
so successfully concluded his machinations
against us.
On the 17th of December we once more
began our march to Tash Kurghan. Izzet
Ullah had departed the day preceding to
Hindustan, and Mir Wazir Ahmed succeeded

448 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
to his situation. Heavy rain fell, and the
river of Ghori was so much swollen as to be
forded with difficulty. One of the camels,
carrying a kojama in which were a servant of
Mr. Trebeck, and an old cook, Ismail, fell,
and the two men were thrown into the water.
The cook, who was paralytic, would have been
drowned, but was saved by Mr. Trebeck ; the
other man made his way out, but a valuable
compass, entrusted to his charge, was lost,
and we had none left but such as were of an
inferior description. We reached Tash Kur
ghan without further mischances, and were
welcomed by Baba Beg with apparent, and
by many of the townspeople with unaffected
cordiality. I found on my arrival a Kasid
from Kabul, who brought me a certificate that
I was, as I pretended to be, a merchant, bear
ing the seals of fifty of the principal merchants
and bankers of Kabul, who had, unsolicited,
prepared and forwarded this voucher when
they heard of our detention, and the reason
assigned for it. The man had been here a
fortnight, having been prevented, on various
pretexts, from proceeding to Kunduz.
However anxious to get clear of the terri-

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 449
tory of Murad Beg, we were obliged to remain
some time, in the hope of being joined by Mr.
Guthrie, who had been desired by the chief
to proceed to Hazrat Imam, to visit a sick per
son there. A week having elapsed, we began
to apprehend that some new design was on
foot to delay our advance, and resolved to
wait no longer, being assured that Mr. Guthrie
should be forwarded to us with a suitable es
cort. I also wrote to that gentleman to ex
plain the necessity of no longer awaiting his
return, and directing him what measures to
adopt, fully expecting that he would overtake
us at Balkh, where we should have to halt for
three or four days.
Tash Kurghan is about three miles in cir
cumference, and may comprise about twenty
thousand houses. They are built of clay and
sun-dried bricks, of one story, with domes in the
usual fashion of the country, and each stands
by itself in a walled enclosure, often contain
ing fruit-trees. The streets are straight, of a
moderate breadth, intersecting each other at
right angles, and have commonly a stream of
water running through them. A branch of
the river of Doaba, increased by many rivulets,
vol. n. 2 G

450 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
passes through the town, but it is absorbed
by the soil soon after it has passed old Khulm.
Nothing can be more cheerless than the streets
of Tash Kurghan, formed as they are of lines
of bare walls, and very little frequented, ex
cept on bazar days. It is rare to meet with
five or six men in the line of a long street ;
and if a woman be seen, she is so muffled up
that it is impossible to form any notion of her
person. The inhabitants are chiefly Tajiks
and Kabulis, with a sprinkling of Uzbeks.
They are all, rich or poor, dressed much alike,
in long gowns of striped cotton ginghams.
Bazars are held every Monday and Thursday,
when horses, asses, mules, camels, cows, sheep,
and goats, are brought to their respective mar
kets. The horses were numerous in the time
of Kalich Ali, but are now few : a sheep sells at
from two to four rupees ; they are of the large-
tail variety, and the fat of the tail and along
the back is commonly one-third of the weight
of the sheep, inclusive of the bones. Cotton
cloths, cotton in the pod, tanned leather, raw
hides, fuel, grapes, raisins, pistachio nuts,
pomegranates, dried plums, fossil salt, brown
leather boots with iron-shod heels, dyes, as

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 451
the pomegranate bark, madder (indigenous),
and indigo, from Hindustan, are exposed for
sale, along with blankets of fine wool from
Chitral, and raw wool from thence and Ba-
dahksha. Printed chintzes, quilts, and tur
bans are also brought from India. Coarse
saddlery is much in request. There is one
market entirely for melons, which are raised
in this neighbourhood in great quantities.
The shops for dyes and drugs are usually
kept by Hindus, who also act, in a small
way, as bankers. The vendors of dried fruits
are mostly from Kabul. The number of the
Kabulis increased considerably even during
our detention, in consequence of the disturb
ances in Afghanistan. The Uzbeks engage
little in traffic. The trade with Yarkand is
almost monopolised by Atma Ram. He
buys up the sheep and furs of Kunduz,
which are exchanged at Yarkand for tea,
disposed of in Turkistan at an advance of
six hundred per cent. The following were
the prices of different articles at the time of
our visit : —
Mutton, four to five pysa per charah, or two pounds and a halt
Beef, three pysa, do.
2g2

452 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
Sheeptail fat, eight pysa per charah.
Sheep butter, twenty-four do.
Cow butter, twenty do.
Wheat-flour, seven do. for four do.
Bread, four or five loaves for four pysa.
Oil, sixteen pysa a charah.
Rice, four do. do.
Barley, about one maund and a half for a rupee.
The pysa is the fiftieth part of a Mahmud
Shahi rupee.
The workmen in wood, leather, and metal
were very indifferent, but demanded high
wages, half to three quarters of a rupee per
day. Most of them, in fact, had lands, and
were, in some degree, independent of labour.
There were four tolerably good serais for
travellers. The town was guarded by two
forts, one on an eminence on the right bank
of the river, to the south-east, the other on
the left bank, and on the plain : both are of
earth, and of no strength.
The town is surrounded by a wall of earth,
with wooden gates, a sufficient protection
against sudden incursions of horsemen, but
none against artillery. The people of Tash
Kurghan had been threatened the year before
with a compulsory removal to Kunduz, to
which Murad Beg occasionally transplants

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 453
whole villages or towns. Last year he had
carried thither the population of Sar-bagh
and Khulm, and that of Tash Kurghan es
caped only by largely bribing his officers.
The havock made by the fever of Kunduz
would soon depopulate the valley, if it was
not thus despotically and cruelly maintained.
Old Khulm is situated about four miles
from Tash Kurghan. It was a place of im
portance in the time of Kalich AU, but its
situation on the plain exposed it to the pre
datory incursions of the Khattaghans beyond
the mountains, whilst, on this side, the Ha-
zaras dammed up or diverted the course of
the river,, upon which the fertilization of its
soil depended. The chief, therefore, removed
his capital to Tash Kurghan, much to the re
gret of the people of Khulm, whose orchards
had been celebrated throughout the East for
the quantity and quality of their produce.
The consequences which we apprehended
from the delay of our departure did not fail
to occur, and we were soon made to feel that
we were not yet out of the clutches of the
Khattaghan robber. The camels were assem
bled close to our encampment, the packages

454 JOURN liY TO KABUL [PART IV.
were corded, and the Kafila Bashi was dis
tributing them amongst the drivers, when we
were astounded by the news that a message
had arrived from Kunduz to direct that our
baggage should be detained, and that I
should be sent back. The message was
brought by Torab Beg, the principal Yesa
wal, with instructions to compel obedience, if
necessary, and he was accompanied by a
strong party of horse, who were posted round
our camp. The Yesawal reported that Mulla
Mohammed Amin, the person spoken of as
formerly in Mr. Elphinstone's service, as
soon as the news of our liberation reached
him had hastened to Kunduz, and had
thrown his turban at the feet of the chief,
pledging himself to prove me to be a person
of great importance, engaged as a spy, pre
paratory to the invasion of Turkistan, which
would most certainly fall into the hands of
the infidels, unless Murad Beg baffled their
designs by putting me and my whole party
to death. The chief, on this representation,
announced his resolve that, unless I paid two
lakhs of rupees, I should pass the summer at
Kunduz, calculating, no doubt, upon my

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 455
*
death or destruction, and that of my prin
cipal followers, when he would sell the sur
vivors as slaves, and seize upon our property.
Convinced that nothing but evil was designed,
I declared my unwillingness to go to Kunduz,
when it was proposed that Mr. Trebeck
should go instead. To this I refused assent,
as, if there was the personal danger which
we apprehended, it was for me to encounter
it. The Yesawal then said, unless one of us
consented to accompany him he must use
force, rather than afford a pretext for which,
I submitted. I declared, however, that I
would not depart that evening, as he wished
me to do, but would be ready to accompany
him early the next morning. He had been
all the previous night upon the road, and
was not sorry, apparently, to have a reason
able excuse for repose : he, therefore, agreed
to allow me to remain over the night, and
this, at least, gave us an opportunity of con
sidering what was to be done.
The detachment which had attended the
Yesawal, amounting to about two hundred
horse, were posted for the night in two divi
sions one in our front at about one hundred

456 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
paces, the other in our rear rather more dis
tant. My young friend proposed that we
should divide our party into two bodies, and
fall upon the Uzbeks in the night, disperse
them, seize their horses, and make a forced
march out of the territory of the Kattaghan
chief. The plan was feasible, for, although
inferior in number, we were better appointed
and disciplined, and our men, holding the
Uzbeks very cheap, were quite prepared, and
indeed anxious for a trial of strength. I en
tertained little doubt of our success, but it
could only be effected by loss of life on either
side, and, although we might escape, the
vengeance of Murad Beg would be wreaked
upon Mr. Guthrie and his servants. Upon
full consideration, and in concert with a na
tive friend, who was attached to our interests,
I determined to try a different scheme; to
leave my tents privately during the night,
and repair to Kasim Jan, Khaja of Talikan,
the Pir, or spiritual guide and father-in-law
of Murad Beg, and implore his intercession.
In order to elude the vigilance of the Yes
awal and his detachment, it was agreed that
three of my horses should be led into the

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 457
town, as if to be in readiness for the morning's
journey, that after nightfall they should be
conducted to a burying-ground at some dis
tance, by a couple of trusty persons, who
were to act as my guides to Talikan, and that
I should endeavour to join them as soon and
as secretly as practicable. The horses were
sent off. As the evening advanced the guard
was reinforced, and horsemen from the town
were continually approaching and parading
round my tent. No time was to be lost :
going forth in my usual attire, and inspecting
my sentinels, I returned, and in a few minutes
threw an Uzbek silk dress over my own, with
an upper woollen mantle commonly worn,
put a sheepskin cap upon my head, enfolded
at bottom by a lungi or turban, one end of
which hung loose, and the other was brought
across my mouth and chin, so as to conceal
my face and want of beard ; and thus equipped,
I sallied forth on foot, directing my path to
wards an unfrequented part of the mountains,
concealing my person as much as possible, by
descending into ravines and hollows. The
moon was young, but rain fell, and the clouds
augmented the obscurity of the night. Hav-

458 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
ing walked about half a mile, I with some
difficulty made out the place where I was to
meet my guides, and at last found them at
their posts, with one of my own people, and
our three horses. We mounted and galloped
to the south, until we reached the foot of
the mountain, when, skirting the adjacent
portion of the town, we followed the foot
of the range for some miles, finding our way
with difficulty. The path we had taken was
little frequented, and as the badness of the
night was unfavourable to travelling, we met
with no one upon the road. At Yang Arekh
we were embarrassed amongst the ruins, but at
last cleared them, and passed close to the fort
without being observed. Beyond this place
the plain, without tree or shrub, was fetlock
deep in water, and our horses had great dif
ficulty in making way over the clayey soil. At
Bash Abdan we were nearly detected, for my
guides having imprudently entered to light a
pipe, found there a party of Hindus, the ser
vants ofthe Dewan Begi. Luckily I remained
without awaiting their return. At the pass of
Shahbagli some uncertainty prevailed as to
our proper road, and my guides, after some

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 459
time, found themselves at the bottom of a ra
vine, where it became necessary to dismount
and wait the break of day. However, on the
rain diminishing and the atmosphere clearing
a little, we resumed confidence, and discovered
a path by which we crossed the mountain,
just as the day was beginning to dawn. Pro
vidential it was that we had not traversed the
mountain in the night by the usual road, for
in the grey of the morning we discerned, at
the eastern foot ofthe pass, the fires of a party
which must have been one of alemans, or
banditti, as travellers never halt in such a
situation. We continued our advance on the
direct road, as if we had not noticed them ; but
as soon as we had got behind a rising ground,
which screened us from view, we turned off to
the north, and galloped hard until we thought
ourselves out of danger of pursuit. Proceed
ing on the same line, we came to an abdan,
or a path which led to the Oxus, and then
returned to the direction of Kunduz. Leaving
it a short distance to our left, we rode to the
east and south, traversing a large extent of
barren plain. After many deviations, which
made me apprehend the competency of my

460 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
guides, we observed some Uzbeks fording the
Ghori river, and followed their direction. The
river was about a hundred yards broad, and
the current was rapid. We then rode on till
it was dark, when we came upon an Uzbek
encampment, where it was thought we might
venture to stop and give our horses a feed of
barley, which we had brought in our saddle
bags. The animals had been without food
for twenty-four hours. One of my men, who
spoke Turki like an Uzbek, went amongst
their tents to purchase some milk and salted
tea, whilst I lay down upon a felt, and the
other guide who remained with me replied
to those who inquired who I was, that I was
his fellow traveller, and was very ill with
fever. Milk was not procurable, but we ob
tained a little tea. I was then anxious to
depart, but my guides were overcome with
fatigue, and I was obliged to consent to their
taking about an hour's rest. We then re
mounted and rode on. The night was dark,
and the path was indistinct, and when it
wanted about three hours of day my guides
declared they could not venture to proceed,
as they were uncertain of the road. We were

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 461
therefore obliged to halt till towards dawn,
when we were joined by another benighted
traveller, from whose information it was ascer
tained that we had lost our way. It was with
great difficulty that we recovered it, and the
morning had fairly broke, when it was dis
covered that we had considerably retrograded,
and were not above four kos in advance from
Kunduz, on a track abounding with water
and mud, frequently up to the horses' knees.
At eight o'clock we were opposite to Khanah-
abad, about seven kos from Kunduz. It
seemed to be a large town on the right bank
of the Furkhan river, with a fort of some ex
tent, but not in good repair. We pushed on
as fast as we could, and avoiding the main
road, which was somewhat circuitous, forded
the river and crossed a rice level. Whilst yet
far distant from Talikan, a person was met
who reported that Baba Beg was on his way
to the same place, at some distance in our
rear. We had not proceeded much farther
when we had the mortification of descrying
Baba Beg with a numerous party, advancing
at a round pace and gaining upon us rapidly.
We, however, cleared the pass that leads to

462 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
the plain of Talikan, and encountered a caval
cade, both of horse and foot, going out to meet
the governor of Tash Kurghan, who was ac
companied by Khan Jan, the eldest son of
Murad Beg. The interchange of civilities,
indispensable on such occasions, would, we
hoped, delay the approach of our pursuers, if
such they were, and give us time to reach the
residence of the Pir. Unfortunately, this was
at some distance beyond the town, and we
thought it expedient to make a circuit across
a ridge of mountains, in preference to travers
ing the town. I was here obliged to change
horses with one of my guides, as my own was
unable to get beyond a walk, a failure which,
considering his steadiness, I ascribed to his
being galled by my English saddle.
On clearing the hills we descried from an
eminence an orchard within low walls, in
which were a number of circular felt and
matted tents, and this we were informed by
an Uzbek was the residence of the Khaja.
In half an hour more, and between three and
four in the afternoon, we arrived at the dwell
ing, when I alighted, and sending in one of
my guides with a letter to the Pir Zada from

OH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 463
Mirza Wazir Ahmed, awaited the result. In
about half an hour my messenger returned,
and said the Khaja would see me. I passed
through a low porch formed of mats, and en
tered a circular chamber, on one side of which,
close to the door, the saint was seated. I
made the customary salutation, which was re
turned with courtesy. I then stooped, and
taking hold of the skirt of his vest, which lay
on the ground, I stated that I had a request
to make, apologizing for my imperfect use of
the Persian language, and any mistake or im
propriety which I might in consequence com
mit. I stated that I was in some embarrass
ment as to what I had to state, as it concerned
a person with whom he was closely connected.
The Khaja desired me to speak freely. I ac
cordingly entered into a full detail of the vex
atious detention and extortion to which I had
been subjected by Murad Beg, after having
been encouraged by him to enter his domi
nions, and threw myself upon the equity and
commiseration ofthe Khaja.
The Pir Zada listened very attentively to my
address, and asked me one or two questions,
with the replies to which he appeared to be

464 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
satisfied. When I had concluded he assured
me of his good offices as far as they might
avail me, and that he was willing to hope that
he could secure both my property and person
from any further aggression. This was a
duty, he said, which he owed to a stranger
who had thrown himself upon his protection,
and had become his guest. It was a duty he
owed to God, and from these motives alone he
discharged it, not with the view or hope of
any remuneration. This he said in allusion
to a pair of handsome shawls and two dresses
of broad cloth, which I had tendered to him
according to the custom of the country. He
accepted what was offered, he added, but hav
ing done so, it became him to give it back
again, that it might not be reported that his in
terposition was interested. It was in vain that
I urged his acceptance : he persisted in de
clining it, not through any disrespect for me,
he assured me, but regard to his own reputa
tion. After I had withdrawn to a chamber
assigned for my accommodation, I was visited
by Izzet Bai, a respectable merchant of Yark
and, who had been present at my interview
with the Pir Zada, and who confirmed my re-

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 465
liance upon his protection. Izzet Bai was at
Yarkand when Mir Izzet Ullah arrived there
from Ladakh, and while he did justice to the
abilities and exertions of my agent, he ex
pressed his regret that I had not gone at once
there myself, instead of sending an agent be
fore me. The Ak-sikels, literally white wands
or elders of the merchants of Badakhshan,
Indijan, and Kashmir, were quite disposed to
have facilitated my intercourse, but my send
ing a representative inspired the authorities
with doubts, of which the Kashmirian, Nakaju,
took advantage. This account agreed with
what I had heard from other quarters, and
inspired the greatest regret that I had suffered
myself to be biassed against my own impres
sion by the opinions of others.
On the following morning Baba Beg paid
his respects to the Pirzada, and I was sum
moned to the audience : the former admitted
that I had been in correspondence with his
father, but said he had been directed by his
superior to remove to Kunduz with my party,
to await further information respecting my
being a merchant. To this I replied, that
VOL. II. 2 H

466 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV
sufficient testimony had been already fur
nished, and that unless the Pirzada withdrew
the protection he had promised, I would not
leave his dwelling. After I had withdrawn I
was again sent for by Baba Beg, and found
him standing without the gate, whilst the Pir
zada was within the court. The former said
he wished to have some private conversation
with me, to which I replied I was ready, but
that I would not cross the threshold unless
the khaja pledged his word for my safe re
turn. The khaja smiled, and said I might
go in safety. The precaution I used was quite
necessary; for, agreeably to the Uzbek no
tions of sanctuary, it would have been no dis
credit to the Pirzada had I been carried off
forcibly, after going forth from his house with
out his express sanction. When I had ac
companied Baba Beg out of the house, he
said I had taken the only steps that could
have saved us, and advised me on no account
to leave my present abode till the business
was settled, and a person deputed on the part
of the Pirzada to escort us to Tash Kurghan.
I really believe that this individual, however

CH. IV.J AND BOKHARA. 467
he might have been disposed to despoil us
himself, would not be sorry to see us disap
point the avarice of his superior.
On the next day the Pirzada was visited
by Khan Jan, and I was again sent for and
interrogated, particularly on the very delicate
subject of my religion. I evaded all contro
versy by stating, that as a merchant I pre
tended to no theological knowledge, that I
followed the faith of my fathers, and that in
my country every man was allowed full liberty
of conscience. Khan Jan desired me to pro
nounce some of the common Arabic prayers,
to which I pleaded ignorance, beyond such a
formula as I had read in Persian books, and
I repeated the sentence, Bismillah arrahman
arrahim, to the great delight of my auditors.
I took this opportunity of repeating a decla
ration I had made in the presence of Baba
Beg, that no Uzbek had taken the slightest
share in my evasion from Tash Kurghan.
Khan Jan repeated the attempt of Baba Beg
to decoy me forth under the pretext that he
wished me to look at some of his horses. In
the evening one of my servants came from
Kunduz, to which place all my people and
2h 2

468 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
baggage had been conveyed, with a letter
from Mr. Trebeck. He informed me that my
evasion, when discovered, had created the
greatest consternation amongst the Uzbeks,
and both Torab Beg, the Yasawal, and Baba
Beg, made up their minds to suffer death
from the rage and disappointment of their su
periors. My servant was accompanied by
Mullah Sangin, whom Mirza Wazir Ahmed
had dispatched to my aid, with a letter from
himself to the Pirzada, in which he alluded to
the efforts made by Mohammed Amin for our
destruction. I was thereupon sent for and
desired to state what I knew of that person,
and I gave that account of him which has
been mentioned above. With regard to his
apostacy from Mohammedanism, I spoke
guardedly, as, although I had the fact from
unquestionable authority, it was not one of
which I had personal knowledge. I could
see, however, that it made a deep impression
upon the assembly.
Whilst walking in the outer court on the
following day several persons passed me,
amongst whom I observed Mullah Moham
med Amin, and a haji of Kunduz, whom

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 469
Murad Beg had sent to prejudice the Pirzada
against me. My friend, Mullah Sangin, fol
lowed them to the audience-chamber, and,
after a time, returned with information that
they had preferred such accusations against
me, and had so strenuously urged the dan
gerous consequences of admitting my party
into Turkistan, as to have evidently alarmed
the chief and many of his attendants, who
were well disposed towards me. On hearing
this I sent the Mullah to request that I also
might be admitted to an audience, and per
mission was obtained. After the usual com
pliments, I informed the Pirzada that I had
heard that persons had come to his house
with charges against me, and solicited him to
allow me to hear their accusations from their
own mouths, questioning them myself as to
what they knew against me, but engaging to
press no questions which the Pirzada might
think improper. The khaja acquiesced, and
pointed out my adversary, a man of low
stature, in attire somewhat mean and neg
lected, with a long beard, and a counte
nance sharp and intelligent, but strongly ex
pressive of malevolence. He said to me, in

470 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
Hindustani, — " Speak in Hindustani ; " but I
took advantage of this to apprize the Pirzada
that he wished our conversation to be carried
on in a language which few present under
stood, and appealed to him if this was allow
able ? — although it was true that I could but
imperfectly express myself in that more ge
nerally known. He replied, "Speak in Per
sian, you will be understood." I then asked
Mohammed Amin to say who I was? He
replied, " A general." " My name ? " " Met
calfe." " What was the duty of a general ? "
— • which he explained in a manner that
showed him well acquainted with the con
stitution of the Company's army. I here
begged that our dialogue might be taken
down in writing, to which the Mullah vehe
mently objected: the Pirzada ordered it to
be done. I then questioned him as to the
strength of the Company's army, which he
stated to be a lakh and thirty thousand, of
which I was the chief commander. The
length of time I had been travelling? — he
said, " Eight years." I then addressed the
Pirzada, and pointed out the errors the
Mullah had committed as to my name and

CH. I V.J AND BOKHARA. 471
the period of my travels, and submitted (he
impossibility of an army such as had been
described subsisting in a state of discipline
during so protracted an absence of its com
mander; it being well known to all present
how entirely the organisation of an armed
body of men depended upon the efficiency
and activity of its head. It was also ab
surdly improbable that an individual of the
high station and command which he had as
signed to me should submit to the degrada
tion and danger which the office of a spy in
volved. But, besides arguments drawn from
these considerations, I could produce unde
niable evidence of my mercantile character,
not from one or two questionable witnesses,
but fifty, respectable merchants of Kabul,
headed by the Sheikh ul Islam, or head of
the religion, by the chief Mufti, and by the
Kazi of the same city, to whom I was well
known. Here the Mullah lost his temper,
and inveighed against the persons I had re
ferred to, but was checked by a reprimand
from the Pirzada. Restraining his vehe
mence, he said he would prove me to be a
spy, or submit to any punishment that might

472 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
be imposed. " This man," continued he,
" wherever he goes, takes the likenesses of
the mountains, rivers, towns, forts, and or
chards, and has already painted, n red, and
green, and yellow, every object between
Sykan and Tash Kurghan." He then as
serted that the English government kept up
an extensive establishment of spies at every
principal city between India and Turkistan,
and named several individuals whom he
knew to act in that capacity, they being, in
fact, the news-writers of the government.
These declarations made some impression
upon the assembly, but I hastened to dispel
them by showing the impossibility of our
taking the likenesses he spoke of, as our
marches were those usually performed, and
we tarried nowhere on the road, unless, as in
the present case, compulsorily delayed. I
admitted that I made notes of many things
that I witnessed in agriculture and the arts,
in the hope that the information thus ac
quired would enable me to benefit my own
country or that which I visited, and I ap
pealed to all present if such was not a com
mon practice with travellers in foreign coun-

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 473
tries. With regard to the agents employed
by the British government I explained their
originating in the necessity of counteracting
the designs of the King of the French, who
had declared his intention of marching to in
vade British India, which made it incumbent
on the government of that country to procure
news of his approach. The Pirzada observed
this was nothing more than prudent. The
Mullah then inveighed against the British
power. He declared that I alone had con
quered the whole of Tibet, that I had nearly
taken possession of Kashmir, and that I
should certainly be the means of conquering
Turkistan; that Ranjit Sinh only escaped
destruction by paying, annually, to us twelve
lakhs of rupees, and that the disturbances in
Afghanistan were entirely owing to our policy
and our gold. I had had the address, he ob
served, to turn the tables against him, and
persuade those present that I was an inoffen
sive person, but that he should find more re
liance placed upon his evidence at Kunduz,
where he would repair, and leave nothing un
done to effect my destruction. If foiled in

474 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
this, he would meet me on every stage be
tween this place and Bokhara, and, if neces
sary, finally appeal to the king of that city,
" If you will not plunder and slay him," ex
claimed he at the top of his voice, and with
a most satanic expression of countenance,
" send him back to his own country. Go
back," he called out to me. " Why wast
thou not satisfied with Tibet? — why didst
thou not go to Yarkand? Go back, and
leave this country, at least, in peace." He
spoke with so much volubility and violence,
that it was some time before I could reply,
when I denied his assertions respecting my
self, and the interference of my government
with any of their neighbours, and expressed
my astonishment at the malignity of an indi
vidual whom I had never injured, concluding
by expressing my entire reliance on the wis
dom and compassion of the Pirzada. The
intemperance of my accuser, and the answers
I had given to his accusations, had secured
the judgment of the audience, and the Pir
zada, turning to the Mullah, said, " The Eu
ropean has spoken truth — thou falsehood, —

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 475
get thee hence." He accordingly slunk
away, and soon after mounted his horse for
Kunduz. I withdrew to my apartment.
Shortly afterwards the Pirzada came him
self to me, and said I must be aware that he
was only a Fakir, and that my enemy was a
powerful chief, with whom he could but be
supposed ill qualified to contend : he, there
fore, wished for my advice. I told him that,
as the head of the religion in the country,
and the spiritual guide of Murad Beg, the
latter was his inferior. It was true, he re
plied, that, if he exercised his authority, the
chief must obey, but the exercise of that au
thority would dissolve the union which had
hitherto subsisted between them, and would
create him many enemies : he wished, there
fore, so to arrange the business as to secure
me without incensing the chief: he would
see my friend, the Sahebzada, Mir Wazir
Ahmed, and discuss with him what plan it
would be most prudent to adopt. Accord
ingly, Wazir Ahmed was sent for, and, after
several interviews with the Pirzada, it was
thought that a further pecuniary sacrifice
might conciliate Murad Beg, and render him

476 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
less indignant at our escape. The sum first
proposed was six thousand rupees, but the
Pirzada reduced it to two thousand, and a
messenger was sent to Kunduz to make the
offer. Soon after his departure the appearance of
Mohammed Murad Beg himself at Talikan
was announced ; he arrived late in the after
noon, and encamped about two miles from the
town. No communication took place be
tween him and his father-in-law that evening,
but it was reported to the latter that he had
received the letter of the Pirzada on the road,
and expressed the highest dissatisfaction at
its purport, and that a durbar was held by
him, at which it had been determined that the
Pirzada should be compelled to abandon our
cause, and that nothing less than two lakhs of
rupees should purchase our liberation. The
Pirzada was overwhelmed with consternation
at the intelligence, and retired to his private
apartments. . At an unusually early hour in
the morning he paid a visit to Murad Beg,
which was, after a short interval, returned by
the chief. What passed at the first interview
I was not exactly apprized, but in the second

CH. IV.] AND BOKHARA. 477
the Pirzada warmly advocated my cause. He
had heard my accusers, he said, and was sa
tisfied that they uttered calumnies and false
hoods ; that I was no spy, but a peaceable mer
chant, who had come into the country upon
the faith of the chief's own seal, and that I
was entitled to protection ; instead of which
I had suffered heavy loss and delay. Now I
had sought his assistance, which he had pro
mised, and that he now considered my person
and property as his own, which could not be
molested without injury to his reputation.
Out of consideration for the interests of the
chief he had advised me to agree to a further
payment of two thousand rupees, and a duty
of three rupees on every horse on my return,
to which I had acceded, on his pledging him
self for my safety ; he expected, therefore, if
the chief had any respect for him, that he
would be satisfied with the conditions and suf
fer me to depart. After some hesitation, Mu
rad Beg acquiesced, stipulating only that my
chests should be opened and examined at
Kunduz. He then retired. The Pirzada ac
companied him part ofthe way, and then came
to me to tell me what had been determined.

478 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
The arrangement was satisfactory in every re
spect but the last, for the Pirzada, supposing
all our goods to be packed in chests, had as
sented to the examination of all our packages.
I represented to him that our bales could not
be opened without injury to their contents,
and he was much concerned at his mistake.
It was then settled that they should not be
opened, but a slit made in the envelopes on
one side, so as to exhibit their contents ; and a
messenger was sent off to apprize the Mir of
the alteration. Three days afterwards I had
the satisfaction to learn that Murad Beg had
refused to have the bales cut open, out of re
spect, as he professed, to the Pirzada.
I had hoped that on payment of the two
thousand rupees we should be allowed to pro
ceed, but Murad Beg was going out on a
marauding excursion towards Mazar and
Balkh, and would allow of no travelling, lest
his movements should be made known. It
was proposed by a messenger on his part that
I should wait his return at Kunduz ; but I
deemed it more prudent to remain where I
was, for which I readily obtained the Pirzada's
permission.

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 479

CHAPTER V.
Notice of Kasim Jan— Translations from Gibbon— Lodging— Food
—Prince of Badakhshan — Talikan — Khyrabad — Departure
from Talikan— Kunduz— Interview with the Mir— Shah-bagli
pass— Fossil Shells— Tash Kurghan— Mazar— Deh dada— Or
chards— Greyhounds— Balkh— Ruined Bazar— Storm — Plain
of the Oxus— Akberabad— Farakhabad— Khaja Saleh-Oxus
—Ferry-boats— Kazak encampment — Optical illusion— Karshi
—Visit to the Prince— Departure— Arrival at Bokhara.
Kasim Jan, khaja of Talikan, was a person
of about forty, of a fair complexion and pleas
ing features for an Uzbek. Notwithstanding
his saintly character, he was a dealer in mer
chandise, and especially in slaves, of whom a
portion taken in his forays were usually pre
sented to his Pirzada by Murad Beg. I saw a
number of Badakhshani boys and girls de
tained until an opportunity offered of sending
them for sale to Yarkand. Their price is from
two hundred to five hundred rupees. The
amount is brought back in tea, china, satin,
and porcelain, which is sold in the neighbour-

480 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
ing countries. Besides the profits of trade,
the Pirzada derives some advantage from his
cattle, as he has one hundred brood mares,
and several very large flocks of sheep ; but he
is not wealthy, as he is obliged to keep open
house for all comers, and accumulation would
be incompatible with his religious character.
Although not a man of much learning, he was
intelligent and curious of information. Whilst
under his protection, I attempted to render into
Persian, for his use, the chapters of Gibbon
which treat of Jangez Khan and Timur, in
which the khaja took much interest, and cor
rected the style of the translation. He was
much surprised that a European should have
known so much of the history of the Moguls,
and admitted that many of the facts were new
to him, although he did not doubt their cor
rectness. The subject was frequently spoken
of by him to his attendants and visitors.
After my first interview with the Pirzada I
was first lodged in a khirgah, or circular tent,
the only furniture of which was a few mats,
and a clay stand for a lamp ; but as this filled
with travellers I was removed to a clay -walled
room, with a door, and a small window with

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 481
shutters. The roof was supported by beams
resting at one end on the walls, and at the
other on four pillars of fir, in the centre of the
apartment. Within their area was a circular
clay fire-place, and over it was a small open
ing in the roof for the issue of the smoke. At
about ten in the morning I was served with
salted tea and a cake of wheaten bread, and
about one with a dish of boiled rice and pulse,
in the middle of which above a pint of kurut,
or dried curd, brought into the consistence of
cream, was poured, and over it about two
ounces of melted fat from the tail of the Dumb a
sheep. In the evening tea was again brought
me, and about ten o'clock, broth and bread,
with mutton or beef, or, upon one or two oc
casions, with what I suspected to be horse
flesh: I had also sometimes a pilau of plain
rice and mutton, dressed with Dumba fat.
This fat is admirably suited for the purpose
of cooking, and might recommend to epicures
in England the introduction of the Dumba
sheep. The cookery of the Pirzada house
hold was performed by Badakhshani women.
Amongst the protegees of the Pirzada was
Mir Mohammed Reza Beg, the fugitive bro-
VOL. II. 2 I

482 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
ther of the last prince of Badakhshan. On
questioning him regarding the descent of his
family from Alexander, he stated this was im
possible, as they had been settled in the coun
try little more than a century. The Shah of
Darwaz he believed to be so descended, and
to possess a genealogical record of his lineage :
he thought that a copy of the document might
be readily obtained ; but the passes were
blocked up with snow Avhilst I was at Talikan.
Neither the mines of rubies or lapis lazuli
were worked ; but this was not owing to their
unproductiveness, but to the distracted state
of the country. Iron is cast at Fyzabad, and
pots and pans are supplied to the markets of
Hissar and Bokhara. I had before me an
iron lamp of flower and open work, which in
dicated that the metal must have been brought
into the most complete fluidity.
Talikan is a town of considerable extent,
but of a fluctuating population, as the Uzbeks
migrate in the summer to the neighbouring
highlands with their flocks, leaving only the
Tajik cultivators and traders. The number
of mud-houses of one story may amount to
about fifteen hundred ; but in the winter nu-

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 483
merous huts of mats and reeds, and khirgahs
of lattice-work and felts, are added to the
fixed habitations. There are very near to
Talikan several considerable villages, and the
whole population of the district must be large.
The flocks and herds of sheep, goats, cows,
asses, horses, and camels, were exceedingly
numerous. The fleece of the sheep is good,
and is mixed with a fine wool, nearly ap
proaching in quality to shawl-wool. The
fleece of the goat yields also at its roots wool
of a similar description. The chief of Kun
duz is said to receive annually from this dis
trict thirty-five thousand sheep, at the rate of
one per cent. The fort of Talikan is a qua
drangular building, with conical towers at the
angles, and is of no importance. About half
way between Talikan and Kunduz is the town
of Khyrabad, on the right bank of the Fark-
ham river, with a fort similar to that of Tali
kan. The situation is said to be healthy, in
which it presents a remarkable contrast to
Kunduz. The road between these places is
much intersected by watercourses, and there
is much sedgy land, frequented in the winter
season by immense flocks of wild ducks. Ta-
2 i 2

484 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
likan may be about forty miles from Kun
duz, but from the many detours and devia
tions made in my journey thither, I must
have traversed between it and Khulm at least
one hundred and fifty miles.
After a detention of some days we received
at last the permission to proceed ; but after
the arrival of the messenger who brought this
intimation, the Pirzada wished me to remain
a day, until an auspicious moment for my de
parture should occur. When it arrived, and I
took leave of him, he embraced me ; a mark
of favour I had never seen him confer upon
any one before. He then blessed me, and I
took my leave, sincerely grateful to him for
an interposition which alone could have pre
served us from destruction, and which had
been exercised throughout the whole affair in
a manner uniformly kind, benevolent, and,
though gentle, yet resolute. Izzet Bai brought
from him a present of two pieces of green
China silk, and one of crimson satin brocade,
with flowers of gold, the latter of which he
hoped I would wear in remembrance of him.
He had persisted in declining any presents
of value from me, but I prevailed upon him

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 485
to accept some articles of cutlery, razors, and
scissors, and a small quantity of genuine atar
of roses, and of unadulterated musk. I also
shortly before quitting him induced him to
accept a telescope and a gold repeater, which
had excited the wonder and admiration of
himself, and of all his attendants.
I arrived at Kunduz on the same day, and
on the following morning prepared to march,
but was told that the chief wished to see me.
He inquired after my health, and said he had
meant to do me no harm, but only wished to
ascertain who I was : he asked me what I
had got for him, to which I replied by inquir
ing what he wished, and I found that my
chair had taken his fancy. I told him if he
would send a man for it it should be his. He
then desired me to visit Mirza Abdul Tusah,
who was ill, and had been attended by Mr.
Guthrie. I met Murad Beg again at his
house: some medicines had been prepared
for the patient, emetics and purgatives, which
were to be left with him, but Murad Beg laid
his hands upon them, saying, I will take these,
you can have others prepared for the Mirza.

486 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
I was seated close to Murad Beg, and scarcely
ever beheld a more forbidding countenance.
His excessively high-cheek bones gave the ap
pearance to the skin ofthe face of its being un
naturally stretched, whilst the narrowness of
the lower jaw left scarcely room for the teeth,
which were standing in all directions : he was
extremely near-sighted. He wanted to per
suade me to leave Mr. Guthrie behind ; but to
this of course I would not consent. When we
took leave, Abdul Tusah, who is the Muta-
wali, or manager of the religious establish
ment at Hazrat Imam, prayed for our welfare,
and the hypocritical Beg held up his hands
as if joining in the prayer. I then repaired
to my party, and we got clear of the town be
fore dark, encamping on the snow.
It is not worth while to record some further
delays and extortions to which we were sub
jected on our march to Tash Kurghan, and
which originated, perhaps, rather with the
petty rapacity and vindictiveness of Atma
Ram, than the more daring dishonesty of his
master. We had to pay more than the usual
duties levied on merchandise going for sale to

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 487
and from Kunduz, although our transport of
goods was unconnected with traffic, and was
altogether compulsory.
On descending the western face ofthe Shah-
bagli pass, having strayed a little from the
usual line of road, I observed what appeared
to be a bivalve shell, and alighting from my
horse, found such numbers as to give rise to a
suspicion that I was standing upon an ante
diluvian oyster bed. They were in general
separated and defaced. I had not time to
look for perfect specimens, but procured two
which were entire. I also picked up some
pebbles which looked like cats' eyes, or moon
stones, along with agates in lumps, and in
flat pieces with opals, also a small fragment
of topaz. The face of the rock here forms
part of a basin, and fronts to the east. It
seems composed in a great measure of fossile
shells and siliceous stones.
It was our wish to have passed through
Tash Kurghan without stopping, but pecu
niary arrangements detained us till nightfall.
Anxious to quit a territory where we had suf
fered so much, we moved out and bivouacked
in the snow. At midnight we recommenced

488 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
our march, accompanied by many more camels
than belonged to us. Had we delayed a few
hours, two hundred more would have been
sent in reliance on our protection. After tra
velling about four hours over a plain strongly
frozen, we reached the foot of the pass of
Mazar. For some time past I had lost count of the
course of time, and am unable to specify the
dates of my adventures at Talikan. It was
on the 1st of February that we came to the
borders of the district of Mazar, crossing over
a low ridge of hills by a pass which is fre
quently the scene of an attack upon caravans.
We encountered no robbers. The whole
length of the pass may be about a kos : from
the western face a view of Mazar opens, and
at a greater distance, of buildings, said to be
in the vicinity of Balkh. The country on the
approach to Mazar was flat, and the soil rich,
being watered by a large nala or canal, pro
ceeding from the main trunk, called Band-
amir. At about a mile from the town we were met
by a party deputed by the chief, Shuja ud
Din Khan, to welcome us, and we entered

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 489
Mazar under their guidance. The snow had
melted, and the water mixing with the loam
rendered the streets so plashy, that our horses
were sometimes up to their knees in mud.
Mazar is inclosed by a mud-wall, and seems
to be larger than Tash Kurghan. The houses
are of clay, of one story, with either domed
or flat roofs, surrounded by a court, but less
separated by orchards than at Tash Kurghan.
It takes its name from a tomb (Mazar), sup
posed to contain some of the bones of Ali.
There is another mausoleum which has been
of some importance, but is now in a state of
dilapidation. It nevertheless preserves its
sanctity, and in its neighbourhood, at a place
which is marked by a pole, every mounted
passenger is expected to alight and walk reve
rentially by. We found a house assigned for
our accommodation, and the chief sent us a
present of two sheep.
On the following morning we waited on the
Khan, and were introduced to him in the fort,
in a long, low, and narrow apartment, which
seemed to have been intended for a stable:
he was seated with many of his people on
felts ranged along the wall, and rose and em-

490 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
braced me ; he welcomed me to Mazar, and
assured me of his friendship. We were then
joined by the Wali of Balkh, who evinced
much satisfaction at seeing me again, and
both he and the Khan inveighed against the
conduct of Murad Beg, as bringing shame
upon all Turkistan. We then took our leave,
but the badness of the weather, and the state
of the roads, detained us two days at Mazar.
The Khan returned our visit, and displayed
the greatest kindness, promising us every as
sistance in his power, and giving us unsoli
cited letters of recommendation to the Gover
nor of Balkh, and to the Hakim Be, or chief
minister of Bokhara. The Khan was an
uncle of the Wali by the mother's side : he
seemed to be about forty-five years of age,
and was of middle stature, with plain, unaf
fected manners, and more like a Tajik than
an Uzbek. He is the Mutawali, or person in
charge ofthe Ziarat Gah, or shrine of Ali.
At the request of the Khan I visited a friend
of his, who had received a sword wound a
year before, and which was not yet healed.
He resided at Deh Dadeh, a walled town
about six miles west from Mazar : a very large

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 491
body of water, the great canal of Mazar, flowed
by it, and was seen to come from a gorge in
the hills at some distance. The orchards of
Deh Dadeh are famous for pomegranates and
plums. There are two kinds of the latter;
one a large black plum or gage, the other,
called Kara Alu, the damson of England.
This is preserved in an intermediate state
between dry and fresh, so perfectly, that the
skin can be readily separated from the pulp :
at the time I had an opportunity of tasting it,
the beginning of February, it was infinitely
preferable to the best French prune. The
plums are gathered with their footstalks, and
tied with thread to a willow twig so that they
do not touch ; they are then hung up to dry.
Deh Dadeh is also celebrated for its breed of
greyhounds, and for brown or Nankin cotton,
called there the Mullah's cotton; vestments
made of it unbleached being worn almost ex
clusively by that class of persons, many of
whom reside at Mazar.
After clearing the dirty lanes and suburbs
of Mazar, we passed upon the left the fort
and village of Shirabad, the residence of the
brother of the Mutawali, and beyond this Deh

492 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
Dadeh. We then passed a break in a ridge
of hills to our left, whence issued the main
stream of the water of Balkh, or the eighteen
canal river, from its feeding formerly that
number of watercourses ; the greater part had
been choked, but some had been recently
cleared by order of the Governor of Balkh.
One large branch is that which supplies Ma
zar. A short distance in advance brought us
to the ruins of some buildings, said to have
been the elephant stables of the kings of
Turkistan : similar remains accompanied the
road to the wall of the modern town, which
we entered by a mean gateway, the folding-
doors of which were off their hinges and ly
ing in the mud, no insignificant type of neg
lect and decay. The same prevailed in the
streets, along which we made our way with
difficulty over heaps of rubbish and broken
bricks, and between long lines of clay walls
in a crumbling and ruinous condition. Pass
ing by the face of an unfinished college we
entered a narrow bazar, covered in some places
by a coarse and imperfect roof of wood, and
in others by a half-destroyed roofing of brick ;
it was about six or seven hundred yards long,

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 493
and was almost the only inhabited remains of
the once-celebrated capital of Bactria: issuing
by the gate at the end of the bazar, we halted
close to the walls of an extensive, but seem
ingly scantily inhabited fort, the residence of
the governor, Ishan Khaja.
Some indecision was shown in assigning a
place for our stay, and at last we were di
rected to a mulberry ground, the soil of which
was a perfect quagmire. We had scarcely
pitched our tents when a strong wind blew,
and heavy rain and snow falling, made our
position uncomfortable in the extreme. On
the day after our arrival the snow prevented
our going out, but on the next day we waited
on the governor, who received us kindly : he
expressed himself highly indignant at the
conduct of Murad Beg, and disposed to for
ward our journey by any means in his power.
He was a man of about forty, of a dark com
plexion, and disfigured by the loss of his nose
from disease, a deformity which I observed
very common at Talikan, Mazar, and Balkh,
in young persons of both sexes. The whole
circumference of Balkh, including the Bala
Hissar, or fort, may be between four or five

494 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
miles, marked by the remains of an irregular
and indifferently constructed brick and mud
wall ; the number of inhabited houses is in
considerable. There are no relics of anti
quity, nor of any buildings of note, except
the mausoleum of the Khwaja Parsi, which
has been elegantly fronted with enamelled
tiles. The population exceeds not a thousand
families, with a few Hindus and Jews : the
former are shopkeepers, the latter shopkeep
ers and mechanics. They are subject to the
Jezia, a capitation tax on infidels ; the Hin
dus are known by a painted mark on the fore
head, the Jews by wearing a black sheep-skin
cap : commerce seemed to be at a low ebb,
and nothing of material value was exhibited
in the bazar.
We left Balkh about noon on the 8th of
February, and marching over a continuation
of the plain, arrived at day-break at Tule
Yek, a village contiguous on the east to
another called Karshi Yek, or Little Karshi,
containing together about six hundred houses,
and defended by two redoubts of clay. These
villages are situated on the edge of the desert
plain that leads to the Amu, and are famous

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 495
for their melons, which are said to be the
finest in Turkistan. Broken walls and heaps of
rubbish show the neighbourhood to have been
at one time thickly inhabited, and in every
direction are seen large mounds, which, though
now coated with earth, consist probably of
architectural remains. The orchards of this
place are fertilized by the Balkh river, none
of the waters of which reach the Oxus, being
wholly absorbed in the process of irrigation.
Akberabad is a walled village of some size,
with very extensive ruins. The houses, though
of but one story, are capacious, some of them
having half a dozen good-sized chambers.
They were built of clay and pebbles, or of
sun-dried bricks, surmounted by domes. These
buildings, with occasional repair, were said to
last a very long time, although there is no
scarcity of rain or snow.
At a place called Panjal, a village of four
or five hundred houses, I was informed that
large silver coins, with legends in an unknown
character, are sometimes found, and that not
long since a number of gold coins, with the
figure of a man, were discovered. They had
all, however, been consigned to the crucible.

496 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
A few kos from Akberabad we came to
Farakhabad, a place where there were exten
sive ruins, but merely of earth or sun-dried
bricks. Contiguous to them are the remains
of a pleasure-ground, with a square building,
called Takhti Khan. The edifice must once
have been very elegant, having been con
structed of white marble, embellished with
enamelled tiles of the colour of the turquoise
and lapis lazuli. It consists of one central and
several lateral chambers, surmounted by
domes, but having a flat platform at their
bases. The interior walls of the apartment
are lined half way with the coloured bricks,
and are painted with white flowers on a blue
ground ; some of the tiles and the cornices
have been inlaid with gold. Two causeways
skirting a canal have formerly led to the prin
cipal entrances.
Sirdaba, about two kos from Takhti Khan,
is a large reservoir, supplied by rain and
melted snow. It has been constructed in the
centre of a natural basin, formed by the slope
of the ground about it. There had been a
serai adjoining it, but it was entirely destroyed.
Both were the work of Abdullah Khan, who

CH. V.] AND BOKHAKA. 497
was the great benefactor of all this part of
Turkistan. Khwaja Salah owes its origin and its name,
it is said, to a saint so called, who, being de
tained on the bank of the river at this place,
founded a village. It is usually a place of some
population ; but whilst we were at Tash Kur
ghan it was surprised by a party of maraud
ers, who put all the men to the sword, and
carried off the women and children as slaves.
We found it without inhabitants. The assail
ants were, it was uniformly reported, Turk
mans from Urganj ; but it was difficult to
suppose they could have been Urganjis, as
in that case they must have been fully twenty
days upon the road. Mymana is three days'
ordinary marching, and travellers state that
Urganj is from fifteen to twenty days beyond
it, many of which lie across a desert. The
ferry of Khwaja Salah had three boats, each
capable of containing twenty horses, for the
passage of each of which, and for each camel,
the charge was one tanga.
The Oxus, at the ferry of Khwaja Salah,
appeared to be about as broad as the Thames
opposite the Temple gardens ; but we found,
VOL. II. 2 K

498 JOURNEY TO KABUL [ PART IV.
upon trial, that a rifle, and even a carbine,
carried a ball to the opposite bank : higher
up it was much broader, and was divided into
two streams by an island, and the breadth of
the sandy bed on the right bank, now dry,
was about one thousand five hundred paces
broad. When full, the river may be about
two thousand two hundred paces in breadth.
The current was less rapid than I expected to
have found it, not exceeding two miles an
hour; the depth nowhere exceeded five fa
thoms. The banks were low, and the soil
loose, like those of the Ganges, and the water
was similarly discoloured by sand.
This river begins to rise in April, and re
mains full till July, when it again falls. When
at its height it inundates the plain on either
side, but especially on the right bank. The
extent of its inundation is marked by a belt
of sedge and weeds, and then by a thick jan-
gal of dwarf trees and brushwood. Of the
former the principal is called Patta, and is of
great service to the people, as the boats are
constructed of its timber. The Oxus is said
to be navigable from Syah to Urganj, the
distance between which two points is five hun-

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 499
dred kos. No use of it, however, is made for
commerce, and the only boats upon it are ferry
boats. These are made of the entire trunks
of the Patta-tree, used as planks simply
squared and fastened together by clamps of
iron. The oars are two crooked pieces of
timber, not in the least trimmed, whilst a
third serves the purpose of a rudder : these
are sufficient in calm weather, and when the
current is moderate. At other periods a dif
ferent mode of crossing is had recourse to.
We arrived at the river on the morning of
the 11th, but the wind was too violent to per
mit our making the passage. After several
boats had crossed the wind increased, on
which the boatmen adopted the novel plan of
employing horses to tow the boats over the
river. Two horses were fastened, one behind
the other, to each boat, on the side next the
current ; two locks of the mane were tied to
gether to form a noose, through which a halter
was passed and fastened to a stout bight in
the bow ; a bridle was put into the horse's
mouth, and that of the leader was secured to
a stout staff held by a man opposite his head :
the bridle of the rear horse was held by a man
2 k 2

500 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
in the boat, the object being not only to guide
the horses, but to keep their heads above
water. A second man, attached to each horse,
prevented him from being carried under the
boat, either with his leg over the side or with
a pole. The horses were taken indiscrimi
nately from our train, and although at first
somewhat frightened, yet soon overcame their
fear, and worked with good will, carrying the
boats across in about ten or fifteen minutes.
We encamped on the right bank close to the
water. On the following day we passed
through an owal, or station of Khirgahs and
Kappahs, or circular huts of mats and reeds,
with a conical top. Horses stood saddled at
the doors of the tents, and mares and foals,
and many camels, were grazing in the adjoin
ing jangal. The cows were stabled in holes
made in the ground, roofed with branches of
trees and grass, and covered with sand and
bushes. The dogs were of middle size, of a
foxy colour, but strong and courageous. There
were also many good-looking greyhounds.
The people were Kazaks. We met here some
Turkman women, some riding on camels,
some on horseback behind men; they had

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 501
turbans on their heads, with a yellow silk
veil, which some of them dropped over their
faces, whilst others indulged their curiosity
freely. The faces we saw were broad and
plump, of the true Uzbek character,
On this day's march I was the subject of
an optical illusion of a very striking descrip
tion. At about two hours after daylight I had
ridden away from the caravan to examine
some ruins to the north, and was contemplat
ing the hills beyond Khilef, when my atten
tion was suddenly arrested by a large isolated
building on the plain to the north-west, ap
parently about four or five miles distant. The
morning was frosty but clear. I was in per
fect health and self-possession, and looked
repeatedly at the edifice, which, though low,
appeared to be extensive. As I galloped to
wards it to take a nearer view, it became more
distinct, and shone in the sun, the rays of
which now fell upon it as if it were of marble.
Although I held on my route, my attention
was for a moment diverted by beholding my
friend Trebeck gaining upon a flock of bus
tards, and driving them across my track, and
on again turning my eyes towards the sup-

502 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
posed palace, it had vanished. I saw merely
the range of rocks on which stands the fort
of Khilef. I was the only one of the party
whose eyes had thus been deceived.
On this and the two following marches the
road continued across a desert plain, in which
not a tree was discernible, and where, in
summer, water is scarce, and of brackish
quality. At the time we traversed the plain
heavy rain and snow fell, and the soil was
everywhere soft and miry, occasioning great
distress to our cattle, as well as discomfort
to ourselves. We arrived at Karshi on the
16th. Karshi is a town that is considered second
in importance only to Bokhara. It is situ
ated in an oasis, in the midst of the arid tract
that separates that city from the Oxus, and
which owes its fertility to the waters of a
river from the mountains to the eastward of
Shahr Sabz, a place three marches distant,
usually subject to Bokhara, but at present
in a state of revolt. Karshi did not appear,
however, to be of great extent. The houses
were generally of mud, and flat-roofed, stand
ing in the midst of orchards, except in the

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 503
case of the shops in the bazar. The popula
tion is fluctuating, as the nomadic tribes
come in with their families during winter,
and go out again in summer. The resident
population, consisting in the largest propor
tion of Tajiks, amounts to about twenty thou
sand families : in the winter the number may
be doubled, when the Uzbeks predominate.
The plain around Karshi is irrigated by cuts
from the river, the water of which is ex
pended a little further to the westward. Be
sides the orchards, which are numerous and
highly productive, wheat and barley are cul
tivated, and the bread made from the former
is remarkably light and well tasted. The
following were the prices of various articles
of provision at the time of our arrival, con
verted into English denominations. Barley
about twelve pounds for sixpence. Broken
straw from eightpence to one shilling for a
horse-load. Fuel was scarce and dear; a
camel load of the plant resembling broom,
gathered green, and emitting more smoke
than heat, and packed so loosely that the
load could be easily carried by a horse, was
about a rupee. Ghee, or clarified butter,

504 JOURNEY TO KABUL [.PART IV.
three pounds for a rupee. Sheeptail butter,
five pounds for the same. Wheat flour, a
penny a pound. Rice, eight pounds for
eighteenpence. Grape syrup, which is used
throughout these countries as a substitute for
sugar, threepence a pound. Mutton, about
fourpence a pound ; but it was the least good
of any we had eaten since leaving Hindustan.
A cake of wheaten bread, two of which were
a good meal for a man, cost about a pyce of
Hindustan, or less than a halfpenny. Un
seasonable cold had damaged the blossoms of
the apricots, and the fruit was unusually
dear. It had been intimated to us that on the
third day after our arrival we were expected
to wait upon the Prince, Tora Bahadar, who
was the governor of Karshi, a lad of about
sixteen, the son of the king by a bondmaid,
and, accordingly, on the 19th, at an early
hour, we were summoned to an audience,
and desired to bring our soldiers with their
arms. As we passed along the streets we
found them knee-deep in mud, under which
the surface, which it concealed, was broken
into ruts and holes which rendered it danger-

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 505
ous to proceed. I had seen bad roads in
other countries, and particularly the cross
roads of some parts of Normandy in a wet
winter, but they were absolutely good in
comparison with the streets of the second
.city of the kingdom of Bokhara. We ma
naged, however, to make way without any
serious mishap, until we were desired to stop
in an open area, fronted by three large brick
and mortar colleges of two stories, of which
the iron latticed windows gave them the
aspect of prisons rather than of seminaries of
learning. We halted here for about a quar
ter of an hour, during which several Uzbeks,
whose clothing bespoke them of a respect
able class of the community, passed us, as if
on their way to the court. From hence we
proceeded to a gate-house, where we were
desired to dismount. Within the gateway
was a raised apartment on either hand, open
to the front, in which a number of persons
were seated. On entering an interior road,
walled on each side, with a seat of earth the
whole length, we saw other persons, of whom
the principal was a fair, stout, short, good-
humoured looking personage, in a dress of

506 JOURNEY TO KABUL [PART IV.
China gold-flowered brocade; this was .the
master of the ceremonies. He was attended
by his deputy, who was dressed in a coat of
purple broad cloth, and held a painted and
gilded stick. After instructing us in the
manner of paying our respects, which con
sists in crossing the arms upon the breast,
and bowing the head, these officers con
ducted us to a large court, opposite to the
gateway of which was a line of men with
white wands. When arrived at the middle
of the area, the sides of which were lined
by well-dressed persons, we saw the Prince
sitting on the floor, in the opening of a small
door opposite. After making our obeisance,
we were desired to sit, or rather kneel, and
then, in imitation .of the master of the cere
monies, raised our hands, open, with the
palms inwards, to a level with our faces,
whilst our prompter recited the usual prayer.
At the conclusion we stroked our beards,
rose, sat down again, repeated our salutation,
and once more stood up, when we were told
we might depart.
The Prince was, a ruddy, well-looking
youth, whose face was in a constant smile

CH. V.] AND BOKHARA. 507
whilst we were in his presence, which
scarcely exceeded three minutes. The mas
ter of the ceremonies attended us to the
court-door, when his deputy conducted us to
seats in the passage, and we stopped about
ten minutes longer, during which many of
those who had had an audience came forth.
It was then signified that the ceremonial was
over, and that we might depart on the morrow.
The manner in which we had been received
was, according to Uzbek etiquette, highly re
spectful, and augured well for our reception
at Bokhara. The conduct of the people was
also very civil, and although their curiosity
was somewhat troublesome, it was never rude.
They pressed upon us in great numbers both
in the streets and at our tents, but when they
crowded too much about us the Yasawal
rushed amongst them, and with a long and
thick stick distributed blows at random, which
speedily cleared the ground. The more re
spectable who were allowed to approach re
peatedly said that we were objects of great
interest to them, as they had never seen any
of our countrymen. The questions they asked
us were very much alike, and were not very

508 JOURNEY TO KABUL, &C [PART IV.
sapient. It was a remark which frequently
occurred to us, on our journey in Turkistan,
that a singularly uniform mediocrity of intel
lect prevailed amongst even the best informed
of the Uzbek population. It was rare indeed
to find an individual shrewd or sagacious be
yond his fellows.
We left Karshi on the 21st of February,
and resumed our journey to Bokhara. The
country we traversed resembled that we had
passed between Karshi and the Oxus : after
quitting the confines of the strip of cultivated
ground on which that city stands, we again
came to a sandy and steril tract, less undu
lating than that nearer the river, but equally
unproductive. It was with no slender satis
faction that on the morning of the 25th of
February, 1825, we found ourselves at the end
of our protracted pilgrimage, at the gates of
that city which had for five years been the ob-
ject of our wanderings, privations, and perils.

THE END.

London : Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street,

ALBEMARLE STREET,
December, 1840.

THE FOLLOWING
WORKS ARE IN THE PRESS.

BIBLICAL RESEARCHES IN PALESTINE, MOUNT SINAI,
AND ARABIA PETRiEA, being a Journal of Travels in the year 1838,
undertaken in reference to Biblical Geography. By the Rev. Dr. Robinson
and the Rev. Eli Smith. Drawn up from Notes made on the spot,
with Historical Illustrations by Edward Robinson, D.D., Professor of
Biblical Literature in the New York Theological Seminary, and Author
of " A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament." With Maps
and Plans of Jerusalem, Palestine, and Mount Sinai, from original
Measurements and Observations, in five sheets. 3 vols. 8vo.
" We look for the narrative of the Syrian Travels of Br. Robinson and the Rev.
Eli Smith, which will lay before ub the results of a journey, made by keen ob
servers and accomplished scholars." — Address of tlie President of the Royal
Geographical Society of London.
" The correction of many erroneous views as to the situation of places historically
important, and accounts of the undoubted discovery of celebrated ancient
monuments, long lost or overlooked, even in Jerusalem itself, give to the
reading of Dr. Robinson's Report an unusual interest.'' — Report ofthe Geogra
phical Society of Berlin.
" The Work on Palestine by the Rev. Dr. Robinson is very different from the
hasty journals hitherto published by many Tourists in the same region. It is
the result of studies connected with long preparation, and of an important
enterprise in behalf of a deeper scientific investigation of the geographical,
historical, and antiquarian relations of the Holy Land. This enterprise has
been happily carried out upon the spot under the most favourable circum
stances ; and the work thus resulting from it, with its historical illustrations,
has been prepared with the aid of the richest literary means, and will cer
tainly occupy one of the most important places among the sources for the
study of the geography and^antiquities of the Scriptures."
" This work, by its numerous discoveries and new investigations, will be of lasting
value for the knowledge of the East, and for the historical part of theological
study. It contains in itself the materials for an entire transformation of the
Cartography of Palestine ; hitherto so defective, as is proved by the very im
portant maps already constructed, founded on the new observations afforded
by this journey. These as an accompaniment to the text, give the latter a
peculiar value which can be regarded only as highly desirable."— Professor
Carl Ritter of Berlin. II.
SELECTIONS from the DISPATCHES, GENERAL ORDERS,
&c. OF FIELD-MARSHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. By
Lieut.-Col. Gurwood, Esquire to His Grace as Knight of the Bath.
In one closely printed volume. 8vo.
in.
A HISTORY OF INDIA. By the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone.
Vols. I. and II. comprising the Hindoo and Mahomedan Periods. 8vo.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE. By Lord Byron. An
entirely New and beautifully illustrated Edition, with Sixty Vignette En
gravings by W. & E. Finden, from original Drawings of the most eminent
Artists. Royal 8vo.
A SECOND SERIES OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, comprising their Religion, Agriculture,
&c. By Sir Gardner Wilkinson. Forming the concluding Volumes
of the " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians." With very
many Illustrations, some coloured. 2 vols. 8vo.
AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERIES MADE IN ANCIENT
LYCIA ; being a Journal kept during a Second Excursion in Asia Minor.
By Charles Fellows. With numerous Plates, Maps, and Woodcuts.
Imperial 8vo.
"I have in this tour discovered seven ancient Lycian cities, of which I have,
by numerous inscriptions and coins, ascertained the names, and many other
piles of ruined towns and castles, still nameless. You cannot imagine the
pleasurable excitement of discovering in these cities the works of art, and
objects of the highest interest to the archasologist. The age is probably earlier
than the fourth century before the Christian era, and the works are illus
trative of Homer and Herodotus." — Letter from the Author in The Athenaeum.
VII.
ANCIENT SPANISH BALLADS, Translated, with Notes, hy J. G.
Lockhart. A New Edition revised, with very numerous and Original
Illustrations from Drawings by Wm. Allan, R.A., W. Simson, A.R.A.,
Henry Warren, and Owen Jones, Architect, Author of " The Alhambra."
4to. " These Spanish Ballads are known to our public, but generally with inconceiv
able advantage, by the very fine and animated translations of Mr. Lockhart"
— Hallam's Literary History of Europe.
" We gladly hail the republication of Mr. Lockhart's translations, which have been
selected by him with excellent judgment, and translated with unusual vigour,
animation, and fidelity. Rich as is our own literature in these ancient reliques,
they cannot compete with those of the Peninsula in number, importance, or
antiquity." — London and Westminster Review.
Till.
TRAVELS IN THE HIMALAYAN PROVINCES OF HIN-
DOSTAN AND THE PANJAB, in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar,
Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara. By Moorcroft and Trebeck. Pre
pared for the Press by H. H. Wilson, M.A., Professor of Sanscrit in the
University of Oxford. With Illustrations and » Map by John Arrow-
smith. 2 vols. 8vo, 30s,
*£* This Work, which has been delayed through the want of the Map, is now ready.
IX.
A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO THE
SOURCE OF THE RIVER OXUS, by the Indus, Cabool, and Budukshan,
performed under the sanction of the Supreme Government of India. By
Lieut. John Wood, Indian Navy. With Map. 8vo.
" Forming a Sequel to Lieut. Burnes' Voyage on the Indus."

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

1. The National Gallery,
2. Windsor Castle.
3. Hampton Court.
4- DuiiU-ich.
5. Mr. Soane.
6. The Adelphi.

13. Lord Ashburton.
14. Sir Robert Peel.
15. Mr. Hope,
16. Mr. Rogers. &c. &c. &c.

A COMPANION TO THE PRINCIPAL PUBLIC AND PRI
VATE GALLERIES OF ART, IN AND NEAR LONDON. By Mrs.
Jameson, Author of the " Characteristics of Women.'' One pocket
volume, post 8vo. Including 7- Heb Majesty.
H. BRrDQEWATEIt IToUSE.
9. Stafford House,
10. The Grosvenor Gallery.
11. ,, Lansdowne ,,
12. ,, Devonshire ,,
XI.
A POPULAR HISTORY OF PAINTING, translated from the
German of Dr. Franz Kugler. Edited with Notes by Charles Locke
Eastlake, R.A. Post 8vo.
Part I. — Painting in Italy from the time of Constantine the Great.
Part II. — Painting in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France, and
England. XII.
THE MARTYRS OF SCIENCE ; or, THE LIVES OF GALILEO,
TYCHO BRAHE, and KEPLER. By Sir David Brewster, LL.D.,
Principal of the United Colleges of St. Andrew's. 12mo.
XIII.
RESULTS OF READING. By James Stamford Caldwell, M.A.
Post 8vo. xiv.
ON CLIMATE, AS A PREVENTIVE AND CURE OF DIS
EASE, particularly in the Chest and Digestive Organs. With an Account
of the best Climates in England and the South of Europe, and Directions
for Invalids while travelling and residing Abroad. By Sir James Clark,
Bart, M.D. Third Edition revised and enlarged. Post 8vo.
xv.
PASSAGES SELECTED FROM GERMAN PROSE WRITERS,
Translated by Sarah Austin. Fcap. 8vo.
XVI.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JAPANESE IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY. Described from recent Dutch Visiters to
Japan, and the German work of Von Siebold. By Mrs. William Busk,
Author of " A History of Spain and Portugal," published by the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Post 8vo.
xvii.
THE FIRST COMPLETE EDITION OF BISHOP HEBER'S
POETICAL WORKS. Including Palestine— Europe— Passage of the
Red Sea — Hymns for Church Services — Translations of Pindar — Miscel
laneous Poems, &c. &c. One volume, fcap. 8vo.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

XVIII.
THE SELECTED BEAUTIES OF BRITISH POETRY; with
Biographical Notices : preceded by an Essay on English Poetry. By
Thomas Campbell. An entirely new Edition, one volume. Royal 8vo.
XIX.
HISTORY OF EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. By
Henry Hallam. A New Edition, being the Eighth. 2 vols. 8vo.
xx.
SOUTHEY'S LIFE OF NELSON ; an entirely New Edition, illus
trated with original Designs by Clarkson Stanfield, R.A. Post 8vo.
XXI.
LETTERS FROM THE EARL OF DUDLEY TO THE BISHOP
OF LLANDAFF. A New Edition, with Portrait. 8vo.
XXII.
THE BOOK OF THE CHURCH. By Robert Sodthey, LL.D.
Fifth Edition, corrected and improved, by the insertion of all the Autho
rities. One volume 8vo. XXIII.
NOTES, CRITICAL and DISSERTATORY, on the GOSPEL
and EPISTLES of ST. JOHN. By the late Rev. R. Shepherd, D.D.,
Archdeacon of Bedford, &c. A New Edition. One volume, royal 8vo.
XXIV.
A NEW CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT MYTHO
LOGY, HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, and GEOGRAPHY ; for the Use of
Colleges and Schools. One closely printed volume, 8vo.
xxv.
M. TULLII CICERONIS DE OFFICIIS LIBRI TRES; DE
SENECTUTE, ET DE AMICITIA, DIALOGI : cum notis Variorum
Selectis, imprimis Heusingerorum, Zumptii, et Gernhardi, in usuni
Scholarum. Edidit Car. Wordsworth, M.A. One vol. 12mo.
XXVI.
HOMERUS; Part First. By the Rev. John Williams, A.M.,
F.R.S.E., Rector of the Edinburgh Academy, and Archdeacon of Cardigan.
8vo. Jxxvu.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the
Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. By Henry Hallam,
Fourth Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. XXVIII.
INDEX OF QUOTATIONS FROM GREEK AUTHORS con
tained in the Fifth Edition of Blomfield's Translation of Matthije's
Grammar. A New Edition. 8vo.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

XXIX.
MODERN BOTANY FOR LADIES; or, A POPULAR INTRO
DUCTION TO THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF PLANTS, according
to the Classification of Professor De Candolle. By Mrs. Loudon. With
numerous Illustrations on Wood. Fcap. 8vo.
XXX.
BUBBLES FROM THE BRUNNEN OF NASSAU. By an Old
Man. Sixth Edition, beautifully printed in a small volume 18mo.
XXXI.
THE GREEK VERB CONSIDERED IN ITS LEADING FOR
MATIONS, ITS IRREGULARITIES AND DEFECTS. For the use
of Students at School or College. By A. N. Carmichael, one of the
Classical Masters in the Edinburgh Academy. Post 8vo.
XXXII.
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS IN GARDENING FOR
LADIES. By Mrs. Loudon. With many illustrative Woodcuts. A New
Edition, fcap. 8vo. xxxiii.
THE DOMESTIC LIFE AND MANNERS OF THE ROMANS.
Translated from the German of Professor Becker, of Leipsig. With Illus
trations, 2 vols., post 8vo. XXXIV.
AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MYVYRIAN
ARCHAIOLOGY OF WALES. By the Rev. John Williams, M,A.,
F.R.S.E., Archdeacon of Cardigan, and Rector of the Edinburgh Academy.
To be published by Subscription in Parts.
XXXV.
A SUMMERS DAY AT WINDSOR, AND A VISIT TO ETON.
By Edward Jesse, Surveyor of Her Majesty's Paries and Palaces. With
numerous Engravings. Fcap. 8vo.
xxxvi.
A SELECTION OF SENTENCES FROM THE PROVERBS
AND THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES, in English, French, Italian,
and German, intended for the Use of Young Persons studying those
languages. Containing one Sentence for every day in the Year except
Sundays and Festivals. By A Lady. 16mo.
XXXVII.
A COLLECTION OF THE MOST POPULAR NAVAL SONGS
of the late celebrated CHARLES DIBDIN. Edited by his Son. With
Illustrations. 1 vol. fcap. 8vo.
This work is published under the sanction and patronage of tho Lordi of the Admiralty.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

XXXVIII.
LIEUT. HART'S NEW ANNUAL ARMY LIST, FOR 1841,
containing the Dates of Commissions and a Statement of the War Services
and Wounds of nearly every Officer in the Army, on Full Pay, Retired,
and Half Pay, including the Ordnance and Royal Marines ; compiled from
Official Documents, and Corrected up to January. With an Index.
Strongly bound in one volume, 8vo. To be published with tlie Magazines
on the 1st of January. XXXIX.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN THE NORTHERN
AND MIDLAND COUNTIES OF ENGLAND ; including the Lakes
of Cumberland, Yorkshire, North and South Wales, Derbyshire, the Ma
nufacturing Districts, &c. With detailed Descriptions of all the Railroads,
the principal Post and High Roads, the Chief Cities and Towns, the most
interesting Scenery, Antiquities, Parks, Mansions, Collections of Art and
Natural History, Cathedrals , and Churches ; with Directions for Travellers,
Information respecting Inns, Conveyances, &c. &c. With a Map. Post 8vo.
XL.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN THE SOUTHERN
AND WESTERN COUNTIES OF ENGLAND. Post 8vo.
XLI.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN EGYPT. By Sir
Gardner Wilkinson. With Maps. Post 8vo.
XLII.
HAND-BOOK FOR LONDON, Past and Present. Intended
as a complete Guide to Strangers, and a Book of agreeable Reference
for the Inhabitants, in the Localities and Antiquities of the British Metro
polis. By T. Crofton Croker. With a Map. Post 8vo.
XLIII.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN NORTHERN ITALY.
With a Map. Post 8vo. XLIV.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN SOUTHERN ITALY
AND SICILY. With Maps. Post 8vo.
XLV.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN FRANCE. With a
Map. Post 8vo.
*** The above Hand-Books arc all in active preparation, and mill be published
early in the season.

ALBEMARLE STREET,
Decembek, 1840.

THE FOLLOWING
WORKS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN PUBLISHED.

i.
DISPATCHES AND CORRESPONDENCE OF HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. Edited by Lieut. Colonel Gur-
wood. 12 Vols., 8vo, 20s. each, and Index, 10s.
ii.
THE HISTORY OF THE POPES OF ROME during the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries. Derived principally from unpublished Docu
ments and Records preserved at Vienna, Venice, Rome, and Bologna. By
Leopold Von Ranke. Translated by Sarah Austin. 3 vols. 8vo, 36s.
*« To the high qualifications of profound research, careful accuracy, great fairness
and candour, with a constant reference to the genius and spirit of each
successive age, common to the historians of Germany, Mr. Ranke adds the
charm of a singularly lucid, terse, and agreeable style."— Quarterly Review.
** It is hardly necessary for us to say, that this is an excellent hook, excellently
translated. The1 original work of Professor Ranke is known and esteemed
wherever German literature is studied ; and has been found interesting even
in a most inaccurate and diBhonest French version. It is, indeed, the work
of a mind fitted both for minute researches and for large speculations. It is
written also in an admirable spirit, equally remote from levity and bigotry ;
serious and earnest, yet tolerant and impartial. It is, therefore, with the
greatest pleasure that we now see it take its place among the English Classics.
Of the translation we need only say, that it is such as might be expected from
the skill, the taste, and the scrupulous integrity of the accomplished lady,
who, as an interpreter between the mind of Germany and the mind of
Britain, has already deserved so well of both countries."— Edinburgh Review.
** With Mrs. Austin for a translator of his work Mr. Ranke has been far more
happy, and we cannot praise too highly the simplicity and elegance of the
English into which she has rendered the original text. She has put us in pos
session of a book extraordinary for its learning and impartiality, and for its
just and liberal views of the times and men it describes. The best compli
ment that can be paid to Mr. Ranke is, that each side has accused him of
partiality to its opponent — the German Protestants complaining that his
work is written in too Catholic a spirit; — the Catholics declaring, that
generally impartial as he is, it is clear to perceive the Protestant tendency
of the history."— Times. III.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY HISTORY OF
EUROPE in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. By
Henry Hallam. 4 vols. 8vo, 15s. each.
" We must remember that this is the first great general map or chart of the intel
lectual world attempted in this country. To all lovers of literature it will
be acceptable ; to the young, we conceive, invaluable. We almost wish that
we could renew our own youth, in order to profit by its instructions ; it
would have prevented us from reading a vast number of very bad books, and
induced us, perhaps, to read some good ones."— Quarterly Review.
" "We have delayed for a long time to notice this great work, the most important
contribution to literary history which English libraries have received for
many years ; and our excuse for the delay must be found in the high character
of the author, as well as the importance ofthe subject. Even for the purpose
of the very brief observations which we can hazard, an attentive study of its
contents was more than usually necessary."— Edinburgh Review.

WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

MEMOIRS AND LETTERS OF SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY;
with his Political Diary. Edited by his Sons. Portrait, &c. Second
Edition. 3 vols. 8vo, 30s.
From II. Dumont of Geneva to Sir Samuel Romilly's Executor.
" There is, I think, no other work of this kind which could produce the same
moral effects upon a youthful mind. On one side one sees great talents, great
reputation, and ample fortune; and, on the other, an obscure origin, scarcely
any education, years lost, — and all these disadvantages overcome by unwearied
application, and by efforts constantly directed towards the same end. It
is a lesson composed entirely of facts, worth more than volumes of moral
sentiments ; to which none of those pretences, by which young people com
monly reconcile to themselves their own nothingness, can be suggested as an
answer. ... A charm, too, is spread over the whole work, and it leaves in the
mind a feeling of affection for the author ; and this because he displays
himself without pretension, and because the picture he draws relates only
to those moral feelings, those private virtues, which every one can imitate,
and to that domestic life, the happiness of which, as it is derived from the
purest and most amiable feelings, creates jealousy in the breast of no one.
Mere men of the world will probably disbelieve it : in their eyes it will
appear a romance, but one that will not offend them ; and, by the middling
ranks, the most numerous class of society, these memoirs will he read with
the same feeling as that which dictated their composition."

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, from the Birth of Christ
to the Extinction of Paganism in the Roman Empire. By the Rev.
H. H. Milman. 3 vols. 8vo, 36s.
"Evincing great research and exhibiting profound knowledge of the subject, it
breathes a spirit of peace and tolerance and conciliation which are or ought to
be the characteristics of all ministers of the gospel.
"Wo see nothing in Mr. Milman 's indulgent views beyond those which the most
orthodox minister may take, nor are his opinions anything which the high
churchman may not conscientiously and consistently maintain."— John Bull.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Death of Queen Anne
to the Reign of George II. By Lord Mahon. Second Edition, 3 vols.
8vo, 3Cs.
*' Lord Mahon has shown throughout excellent skill in combining, as well as con
trasting, tho various elements of interest which his materials afforded ; he has
drawn his historical portraits with a firm and easy hand, and no one can lay
down the book without feeling that he has been under the guidance of a sin
gularly clear, high -principled, and humane mind ; one uniting a very searching
shrewdness with a pure and unaffected charity. The author hae shown equal
courage, judgment, and taste, in availing himself of minute details, so as to
give his narrative the picturesqucness of a memoir, without sacrificing one jot
of the feal dignity of history."— Quarttrty Review.

WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

vii.
GIBBON'S HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF
THE ROMAN EMPIRE. An entirely New Edition, edited, with Notes,
by the Rev. H. H. Milman, and illustrated with original Historical Maps.
12 vols. 8vo, 9s. each,
"I felt that this book, in spite of its faults, will always be a noble work — and
that we may correct tho Author's errors and combat his prejudices, without
ceasing to admit that few men have combined, if we are not to say in so high a
degree, at least in a manner so complete and so well regulated, the necessary
qualifications for a writer of history." — Guizot.
" There can be no question that this edition of Gibbon is the only one extant to
which Parents and Guardians and Academical Authorities ought to give any
measure of countenance." — Quarterly Review.
" Gibbon's History, especially as edited by Mr. Milman, is a work for all time
and for all classes. It never before was a work which could be safely put into
the hands of the young, or of those whose opportunities and means for de
tecting its perversions were few. Now, however, the errors of this luminous
and imposing history have been skilfully and convincingly noted. The
poison, if not extracted, has been made palpable."— Monthly Review.
VIII.
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF WILLIAM PITT, FIRST
EARL OF CHATHAM. Edited by Wm. Stanhope Taylor and John
Henry Pringle, Executors of his Son, John Earl of Chatham. 4 vols.
8vo, 18s. each.
" There is hardly any man in modern times, with the exception perhaps of Lord
Somers, who fills so large a space in our history, and of whom we know so
little, as Lord Chatham ; and yet he is the person to whom every ono would
at once point, if desired to name the greatest statesman and orator that this
country ever produced.
" "We regard this work, indeed, as one of the greatest value ; and hold the editors
to have formed a wise resolution, both as to their own duty, and the best
service they could render at once to the memory of their illustrious ancestor,
and to the public interests, by determining to keep back no part of the pre
cious documents entrusted to their care. "— Edinburgh Review.
IX.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRIVATE LIFE, MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, derived from the Study
of Hieroglyphics, Sculpture, Paintings, and other Works of Art, still
existing, compared with the Accounts of Ancient Authors. By Sir
Gardner Wilkinson. With 406 Engravings from Original Drawings
made from the Tombs. 3 vols. 8vo, 3/. 3s.
x.
CHURCH PRINCIPLES CONSIDERED IN THEIR RESULTS.
By W. E. Gladstone, M.P., late Student of Christ Church. 8vo. 12s.
Contents : — 1. Introductory— 2. Rationalism— 3. The Church— 4.
The Sacraments — 5. The Apostolical Succession— 6. Specific Claims
of the Church of England— 7. Church Principles in Relation to
Present Circumstances.

10 WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.
XI.
THE STATE IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE CHURCH.
By W. E. Gladstone, Student of Christ- Church, and M.P. for Newark.
Third Edition, 8vo, 9s. 6d. XII.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF THE REV. H. H. MILMAN;
including The Fall of Jerusalem — Belshazzar — The Martyr of
Antioch — Ann Boleyn — Samor, &c. &c. With Preface and Notes by
the Author, a Portrait, and other Illustrations. 3 vols. Fcap. 8vo, 18s.
XIII.
AN EXCURSION IN ASIA MINOR IN 1838. Including a
Visit to several unknown and undescribed Cities of Ancient Lycia and
Pamphylia. By Charles Fellows. With Plates and Woodcuts, from
the Author's Sketches. Imperial 8vo, 28s.
xiv.
THE ART OF DEER-STALKING. lUustrated by a Narrative of
a few Days' Sport in the Forest of Atholl. By William Scrope, F.L.S.
With Illustrations by Edwin and Charles Landseer, R.A. A New
Edition, revised. Royal 8vo, '11. Is.
xv.
CAIRO, PETRA, AND DAMASCUS, IN 1839: with Remarks
on the Government of Mahomed Ali, and on the Present Prospects of
Syria. By John G. Kinnear. Post 8vo, 9s. 6d.
" Mr. Kinnear's Narrative is short, pleasant, and interesting, and we find our
selves, when we close his book, in a tolerable state of familiarity with Eastern
manners." — Times.
*' This volume is of a very agreeable and lively character. Competently read,
especially in the Bible, and possessing a good deal of native shrewdness and
judgment, Mr. Kinnear has Gtamped upon his page the charm of simplicity
and utility." — Spectator.
" Mr. Kinnear writes extremely well, and his descriptions proclaim him a good
observer." — Examiner.
*' We were unprepared for the scriptural and historical criticism with which Mr.
Kinnear so modestly, and yet so judiciously, intersperses his narrative;
evincing a mind well acquainted with biblical learning, and the works of com
mentators which hear upon tbe ancient inquiries it involves." — Literary
Gazette. XVI.
LETTERS FROM ITALY to a YOUNGER SISTER. By
Catharine Taylor. Post 8vo, 8s. 6d.
XVII.
THE COURT OF SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND.
Extracted from the Correspondence of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope,
British Minister at Madrid from 1690 to 1700. Selected from the
Originals at Chevening. By Lord Mahon. 8vo, os. Gd.

WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED. 11

xvm.
THE PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY; or, the Modern Changes of
the Earth and its Inhabitants considered as Illustrative of Geology. By
Charles Lyell, F.R.S. Sixth Edition, revised, with more than 250
Illustrations. 3 vols. 1 2mo, 24s. XIX.
THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE, AND THE REMEDY FOR
IT. By Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart. Second Edition, with Map
of Africa, 8vo, 5 s.
An Abridgement of the above Work for circulation. 8vo, Is.
xx.
A SERIES OF PICTURESQUE VIEWS ON THE RIVER
NIGER, sketched during Lander's last Visit in 1832-33. By Commander
William Allen, R.N. Published under the Auspices of the Society for
the Extinction of the Slave Trade, and for the Colonization of Africa. Im
perial 4to, 25s.
'* The Author of this little work, who is about to take a part in this honourable
mission (the Civilization of Africa), hopes that an endeavour to delineate the
features of the country, and the manners of the people, may not at this time
prove unacceptable."
" The sketches were made on the spot during Lander's expedition, which he ac
companied, by order of the Admiralty, for the purpose of making a survey of
the river ; and while he would olaim some indulgence for them, on the plea
of their having been taken when he was suffering severely from the effect of
the climate, he takes confidence from the goodness of the cause, and from the
high auspices under which he appears before the public." — Extract from the
Author's Preface. XXI.
A WINTER IN THE WEST INDIES, described in Familiar
Letters to Henry Clay, of Kentucky. By Joseph John Gurney, of
Earlham. Second Edition. Svo, 5s.
" The Author of these pages gives a most remarkable and encouraging account of
the results of tho working of the great experiment, now in progress in the
British West Indies, for the complete emancipation of the Slaves."— New York
American. XXII.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA. By M. De Bjornstjebna,
Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and of the Academy
of Military Science. Translated from the German. With Maps. 8vo,
8s. 6d.
" We know of no other work that contains so much in so few pages— no work that
so ably offers a compendium, not alone of our empire, but of India generally ;
and we would recommend it to be read in preference to all others, by any in
dividual desirous of obtaining a general idea of the past and present state, and
even future prospects of our vast possessions."— United Service Journal.

12 WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

WASHINGTON. By M. Guizot. Translated from the French by
Henry Reeve. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d.
" M. Guizot does not come forward with the conceited air of one who would force
his views from a vanity in originating them, but simply gives his convictions ;
being impressive because he is himself impressed with their truth — eloquent,
because he himself feels the grandeur of his subject. Admiring his hero to
the highest degree, he is sober in his enthusiasm ; having viewed the fortunes
of a vast country, he appreciates the influence of Washington, and, after
carefully weighing all circumstances, speaks with the admiration of one
whose reason is convinced, not of one whose intellect is dazzled." — Times.
XXIV.
HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN THE EAST; in
cluding Malta, the Ionian Islands, Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor
and Turkey in Europe, with detailed and precise Information re
specting Steamers in the Levant ; Quarantines ; Accommodations for
Travellers ; Requisites to be taken out of England, or procured abroad ;
Guides and Travelling Servants ; Tables of Moneys, and their English
"Value ; Passports and Firmans ; Season for Travelling, and Climates,
&c. &c. Maps. Post 8vo, 15s. xxv.
THE CHOEPHORCE OF iESCHYLUS, a New Edition of the
Text, with Notes Critical, Explanatory, and Philological, designed for the
Use of Students in the Universities. By the Rev. T. Williamson Peile,
M.A., Senior Fellow and Tutor in the University of Durham. 8vo, 12s.
Also, by the same Editor, THE AGAMEMNON OF ^ESCHYLUS. 8vo, 12s.

A NEW GREEK GRAMMAR, for the Use of Schools. By the
Rev. CharlesWordsworth, M.A., Second Master of Winchester College.
A New Edition, revised and improved, 12mo, 3s. Gd.
" It is the object of this work to correct the errors and supply the defects of the Eton
Greek Grammar, at the same tune retaining, as far as possible, the language
and form of the original."
This Grammar has been recently introduced into the public Schools of
Winchester, Harrow, and Rugby.

MRS. RUNDELL'S NEW SYSTEM OF DOMESTIC COOKERY,
Founded on Principles of Economy, and adapted to the Use of Private
Families. The Sixty-fourth Edition, carefully Revised, and Improved by
the Addition of nearly One Thousand New Receipts, adapted to the pre
sent advanced state of the Art of Cookery. With Plates. A thick
volume, strongly bound. Fcap. 8vo, 6s.

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.