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Art. XXXI.—Travels beyond the Himalaya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Mir Izzet Ullah  and
H. H. Wilson
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Extract

[The Royal Asiatic Society having- determined to reprint occasionally papers which may be considered of interest, or may contain useful information, and which, although in print, are not generally procurable in this country, have been pleased to select in the present instance a translation made by me many years ago, and published anonymously in one of the periodical publications of the Calcutta press. At the time of its publication, the subject was entirely new. It has lost something of the gloss of novelty by the more comprehensive journals which have since appeared; but it still contains information regarding parts of Turkestan and Central Asia, which is not derivable from any better source, as the countries have not been visited in modern times by European travellers. In what has also ceased to be novel, the observations of the traveller are not without interest, as they relate to a political state of the countries traversed, which had undergone a change for the worse even when Izzet Ullah's steps were; followed by Moorcroft and Trebeck, and which has become still further deteriorated by the anarchy that has so long distracted Afghanistan. The journal of Izzet Ullah is in most places little more than a mere itinerary, and it is so far more serviceable to geography than to history; but he occasionally extends his notes so as to furnish materials for the latter.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 7 , Issue 14 , July 1843 , pp. 283 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1843

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References

page 284 note 1 Henry Wood, Esq., Accountant-General, Bengal.

page 284 note 2 When visited by Moorcroft in 1822, the number of houses was reduced to five or six. Vigue's enumeration is two or three. According to the former, Sonaraurg is so called from the “golden pheasant,” which is in the neighbouring woods. The latter explains the name to import “the golden hill,” from the number of pretty flowers found there in the spring.

page 284 note 3 The cos of Izzet Ullah generally corresponds with the mile of Moorcroft. The source of the Sindh is in the mountains about Amara-nath. (Vigne.) In his map, the road runs here south of the river, or along its left bank. The Sindh runs westward, passes north of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, and falls into the Behut, above eight miles to the north-west of it.

page 285 note 1 This account of the course of the Tibetan river is not correct, but the error is excusable, and no means of correcting it existed at the time when the notice was written. The river that joins the Behut below Muzaferabad is the Krishnaganga, the source of which was with equal inaccuracy placed within Kashmir, whilst it rises in the mouutain skirting the Steppe of Deosu. The river of Tibet, or rather the Dras river, joins the great southern branch of the Indus.

page 286 note 1 Moorcroft calls it also Pandras, but, as noticed in his Travels, vol. ii., p. 93Google Scholar, it is probably Payín or Lower Dras.

page 286 note 2 In the former publication this was written Diriras from Izzet Ullah's vowel marks as they appeared in the manuscripts employed. Mr. Elphinstone's copy has however Dirás, , and all the travellers agree in calling it Dras. It is also named Him-bab, “the gate or pass of snow,” (Moorcroft,) and is 9000 feet above the level of the sea.—Vigne.

page 286 note 3 The Durds of the present day, Daradas of the Sanskrit writers, and Daradæ of the classical geographers.

page 286 note 4 Moorcroft mentions that the lands (or rather perhaps the revenues) of Dras were the joint property of the Raja of Ladakh, and the Malik of the neighbouring frontier of Kashmir, under an ancient grant from the Raja. The Maliks of Kashmir were officers holding lands on condition of defending the passes. When Mr. Vigne visited Dras, a small fort had been erected there, garrisoned by Sikh soldiers. —Vol. ii., p. 393.

page 287 note 1 Moorcroft calls the place Pushkyum; the river means the main stream of the Indus, which here turns at a sharp angle from a westerly to a northerly course.

page 287 note 2 The Molbi of Moorcroft, who also describes the sculptured figure on the rock.

page 287 note 3 Moorcroft mentions that the number of Gelums and Chumas, monks and nuns attached to the establishment at Lama-yuru, is said to be 500.

page 287 note 4 Khalets.—Moorcroft.

page 288 note 1 Moorcroft calls it Sneurla, but adds, that the Kashmiriana call it Nur-ullah.

page 288 note 2 These are the Himis and Saspuleh of Moorcroft.

page 288 note 3 This is the kiang, which Moorcroft has still left undetermined, though it seems to be allied to the quagga.

page 288 note 4 According to Klaproth and Remusat, it is derived from Turfan, the name of a people described under that denomination by the Chinese historians of the sixth century, as occupying the countries bordering on Shu-chwan and Shen-si; this word may be read, according to Klaproth, Tu-po or Tu-bo. It seems not unlikely after all, that Ti-bet is nothing more than a modification of Pot or Bot, which according to Csoma Körösi is the Dative appellation of both the country and the people.—Geographical Description of Tibet, , J. A. Soc. Ben., 04, 1832.Google Scholar

page 291 note 1 Moorcroft calls this officer the Banka.

page 292 note 1 See an account of this person in Moorcroft.

page 292 note 2 So Rubruquis states that “the Tibet monks acknowledge the unity of the Deity; and on being reproached with the use of images, replied, that these by no means represented the Supreme Being, but only such of their deceased friends as they particu.arly respect.”

page 292 note 3 More correctly Kon-chok, the chief of rarity. See Csoma. Tibetan Gram. “Why God is cahed Kon-chok, ,”—App. p. 165.Google Scholar

page 293 note 1 They were in Sanskrit or Prakrit, the religion of Tibet having been derived from the plains of Hindustan. Nestorian Monks, however, were very long scattered over the countries north of Tibet, and some vestiges of their presence seem to be visible in the notions and practices of the people. Rubruquis found a number of Nestorian Christians in the states of Mangu Khan, and Marco Polo encountered them in various places between Badaklishan and China. The Goa Church also maintained missionaries in Tibet several years; twelve were sent at one time under Horace de la Penna, besides Desideri, Andrada, and others at different periods. They all ajjree in the resemblance between the religion of the Lamas and Christianity.

page 294 note 1 A particular account and drawing of this game as played in Tibet, are given by Vigne.—Vol. ii., p. 289.

page 294 note 2 The latitude of Lé is now ascertained to be about 34° 10′.

page 294 note 3 This part of Izzet Ullah's route is entirely new, as Marco Polo and the missionary Goez, who visited Yarkand, both went by a different route, or through Badakhshan. The other missionaries who penetrated to Ld, turned off thence to Lassa. It seems probable, indeed, that a Bussian officer preceded our traveller; the circumstances under which this occurred are thus described in the 26th Number of the Journal Asiatique—“In 1774, a subaltern officer of the Neugorod regiment of infantry, named Yefremof, was carried off from his post by the Kirghizes, and conveyed into Bokhara. The Atalik appointed him inspector of his seraglio, and afterwards obliged him to render military service, in which he rose to the rank of Yuz bashi, or captain of cavalry. Yefremof accompanied the troops of the Atalik in different expeditions to Samarkand, Mawra, and Khiwa. From thence he escaped to Kokend, Kashgar, and Yarkand, and penetrating across Tibet, made his way to Calcutta, from which place he returned to Europe in an English frigate. In 1782, he arrived at Petersburgh, where he published a narrative of his adventures, with some description of the countries he had visited in his travels.” Moorcroft and Vigne subsequently went part of the way, but only a few stages.

page 294 note 4 Apparently this is what Vigne calls Ayu.

page 295 note 1 Jugur of Vigne.

page 295 note 2 Urkmn of Vigne.

page 295 note 3 The use of Turkish words throughout the rest of the Journal, marks the * extent to which this race must have encroached upon Tibet.

page 297 note 1 So Vigne mentions that when the Shayuk is too full for wading, travellers from Ladakh to Yarkand enter the valley of the Nobra, and then turn up a path to the right and arrive at Karakurum after crossing three passes, two of which are called Broknapal, (Izzet Ullah, Moorcroft, Braknate,) and Sisur. Vigne entered the head of the Nobra valley.

page 297 note 2 Both copies had Mashrek, the east; but this is clearly an error. Elphinstone notices this passage of Izzet Ullah's journal:—Izzet Ullah, he observes, does not describe the glacier of Khamdán as forming part of the range of mountains, but as a separate mountain of ice, seen on the left of the road two marches before reaching Kurrakorrum, and extending two hundred cos, from Tibet of Balti to Surrikkol.— Note, p. 112.

It is to be inferred that the glacier here met with, is in fact part of the Mustak range, extending across the country of the Dard tribes, north of Little Tibet, to Wakan, where even the latest maps leave a blank. See Map annexed to Vigne's Travels in Kashmir.

page 297 note 3 The Sir-i-kol; the lake in the Pamir mountains from which the Oxus rises, in Lat. 37° 27′ N., Long. 73° 40′ E.—Wood.

page 298 note 1 The Shayuk rises by two heads, one from the snows on the southern face of the Karakurum range; the other, from a lake in the same position a little more to the west, called Nobra Tsuh. See Vigne's Map.

page 300 note 1 The maps, however, give it a continuous north-easterly direction. The latest and best maps of Central Asia, by Zimmerman, also place Chiragh Saldi on the east of the road: but Izzet Ullah's account is consistent, as he mentions under the station Mizar, that the road from Chiragh Saldi joins the valley on the left, that is, the west. The whole account of this part of the formation of the Yarkand river differs from the map last mentioned; for that identifies the Mizar stream with the Yarkand river; whilst, according to our traveller, the main stream, which had diverged to the west at Kulan Oldi, is not again met with until within three hours march of Yarkand.

page 301 note 1 The Oortung of Elphinstone's map. Here the roads from Lé and Badakhshan to Yarkand seem to meet.

page 302 note 1 The Yarkian, Hiarchan, Gurkan, and Karkan of different European writers; * when visited by Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, it was subject to the descendants of Jangiz Khan.

page 303 note 1 The Yeshm is the Iu of the Chinese, to which many imaginary virtues are attached; it is a species of Jade. See Remusat. Récherches sur la Pierre de IU.

page 303 note 2 This was in 1640. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, when * Goez was there, Yarkand was the capital of Kashghar. It was afterwards taken by the Uzbeks, and again oaptured from them by the Eleuths. In 1757, it was annexed by the armies of Kien Long to the empire of China, to which it still belongs.

page 304 note 1 More usually called Ili.

page 305 note 1 The standard is not mentioned, nor can we depend upon our traveller's valuation of the pul; admitting it, however, to be correct, silver is to copper about twelve per cent, higher than in Calcutta. The rate is probably not far from the truth. The lumps of silver are no doubt the ingots in which the Chinese Sycee silver is commonly current.

page 306 note 1 This is a very ingenuous confession, and calculated to give a favourable notion of our traveller's veracity, in spite of a little tincture of credulity.

page 306 note 2 According to Morrison, under the word “rank,” the balls or buttons are nine:—One, of a red stone; two, of coral; three, of carved coral; four, of a blue stone; five, of an opaque blue stone; six, of crystal; seven, of a dull white stone; eight, of gold; nine of silver.

page 306 note 3 Both copies of the Journal write this Pehin, the Tartar pronunciation, no doubt, of Pekin.

page 306 note 4 This term, now first introduced, is subsequently thus explained. Yol is a Turkish word, signifying originally road or way, but it has now come to designate a certain distance. One yol is said by some to contain 360 fawalik, and one fawalik is equal to two Gez (or cubits) of Shahjehanabad: others say that a yol contains only 360 cubits, two of which in like manner make a fawalik: 70 or 80 yols form a moderately long stage. The latter rate seems the most likely to be correct, as then a mile will be equal to about two and a half yols, and about thirty miles will form a stage, not often although sometimes exceeded.

page 324 note 1 The name approaches to the Namgan of the map, but the situations are quite irreconcilable; one or other statement must be incorrect.

page 332 note 1 That the people of Turkestan were well acquainted with the affairs of Russia, is shown by the account which Izzet Ullah here inserts of the French invasion and burning of Moscow, briefly but correctly enough, aa he had heard it at Samarkand. He also discusses at some length reports and opinions respecting the invasion of India by the Russians.

page 336 note 1 The original gives an account of several of the principal of them.