Travels in Central Asia Part 32

The Khanat, from which the conqueror had sent all the cannon, and immense stores of arms and treasures, to Bokhara, was divided into two parts. Khokand fell to the share of Sahmurad, the darling of the Kiptchaks, Khodjend to Khudayar Khan. Mozaffar-ed-din returned to his capital. I met him on his way thither on August 15, 1863.

Since this time, yet so recent, Khokand has probably experienced several other changes. Similar dissensions formerly occurred between Kashgar, Khoten, and Yarkend; and as those continued until all their territory was incorporated by China, so is it here probable that Russian occupation will soon put an end to these miserable civil wars.

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CHAPTER XX.

CHINESE TARTARY.

APPROACH FROM WEST ADMINISTRATION INHABITANTS CITIES.

The traveller who journeys on during twelve days in an easterly direction from Oosh, will reach the Chinese territory at the point where stands the city of Kashgar. The way thither leads him over a mountainous country, where the Kiptchaks are wandering about with their herds. No villages, it is said, ever existed in this district, except in the time of Djenghis Khan, and then only here and there. At the present day it is not possible to trace even their ruins. Places blackened by fire and heaps of stones indicate the spots used by travellers and karavans for their stations. Although the Kiptchaks are wild and warlike, they do not attack solitary travellers. Large karavans coming from China are bound to pay a moderate tribute, in other respects no one is disturbed. At the distance of a single day's journey from Kashgar one arrives at a blockhouse, the first post of the Chinese, occupied by 10 soldiers and an accountant. No one is permitted to proceed unless furnished with a pa.s.s drawn up by the Aksakal in Namengan, who acts as a sort of paid agent for the Chinese.

After {398} the traveller has exhibited his pa.s.s, he is interrogated in detail respecting everything that he has seen and heard in foreign parts. The accountant makes two copies of the report, one is given to the nearest post to be compared with the answer to a similar interrogation there; this doc.u.ment is forwarded to the governor whom it concerns. According to the statements of Hadji Bilal and my other friends, in Chinese Tartary it is most advisable on such occasions to employ the formula 'Belmey-men' (I know not). [Footnote 143] It is not the practice to force a man to reply in detail, and indeed no one has power to compel him to do so, and the accountant himself prefers the shorter answer, which lightens the functions he has to perform.

[Footnote 143: The Chinese have besides a proverb quite in accordance with this rule, for they say: 'Bedjidu yikha le Djidu s.h.i.+ kha-le.'

'I know not, is one word; I know, is ten words,' that is to say, 'Saying "I know not," you have said everything; but saying "I know,"

your interrogator will put more questions, and you will have necessarily more to say.']

Under the name of Chinese Tartary we generally understand that angular point of the Chinese Empire that stretches away to its west towards the central plateau of Asia, and which is bounded on the north by the great hordes of Kirghis, and in the south by Bedakhshan, Cashemir, and Thibet. The country from Hi to Kohne Turfan is said to have been subject to the sovereignty of China for several centuries; but it is only 150 years since Kashgar, Yarkend, Aksu, and Khoten have been {399} incorporated. These cities had been continually at war with one another, until several of the leading personages with the Yarkend chief, Ibrahim Bey, at their head, desirous to put an end to the dissensions, called in the Chinese, who, after long hesitating, a.s.sumed the sovereignty, and have governed these cities upon a different system from that in force in the other provinces of the Celestial Empire.

_(a.) Administration._

As I heard from an authentic source (for as I have stated, my friend and informant, Hadji Bilal, was the chief priest of the governor), each of these provinces had two authorities, one Chinese and military, the other Tartar-Musselman and civil. Their chiefs are equal in rank, but the Tartar is so far subordinate to the Chinese that it is only through the latter that one can communicate with the supreme authority at Pekin. The Chinese officials inhabit the fortified part of the city, and consist of

1. Anban, who is distinguished by a ruby b.u.t.ton on his cap, and by a peac.o.c.k feather. His yearly salary is 36 Yambu, [Footnote 144] about 800. Under him are the

[Footnote 144: A Yambu is a ma.s.sive piece of silver with two ears or handles, in form like our weights. In Bokhara it is taken for forty Tilla.]

2. Da-lui, secretaries, four in number, of whom the first has the superintendence of the correspondence, the second the administration of the expenditure, the third the penal code, and the fourth the police.

3. Dji-zo-fang, keeper of the archives.

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The court of the supreme Chinese officer is denominated Ya-mun, and is accessible at all times to every one who wishes to prefer his complaint against any subordinate officer for maladministration, or in any other case of supposed failure of justice. And here we meet with a characteristic trait of Chinese government. Immediately before the gate of the court stands a colossal drum; this every plaintiff strikes once if his desire is to summon a secretary, whereas he must beat twice if his intention is to see the Anban himself. Whether it be day or night, summer or winter, the sound of distress must be attended to, or at least very rarely is it neglected. Even in Europe such a mode of summoning, I think, might be desirable in the case of many a drowsy functionary of justice.

The Tartar-Musselman corps of officials intrusted with the administration of justice in civil cases, with the collection of the taxes and customs, or other such functions touching their domestic concerns, and which do not devolve upon the Chinese authorities, are as follows:--

1. Vang, or Hakim, upon the same footing as the Anban, both as to rank and pay.

2. Haznadji, or Gaznadji as he is designated by the Tartars, who has the control and inspection of the revenue.

3. Ishkaga (the word signifies doorkeeper), a sort of master of ceremonies, chamberlain, and chief intendant.

4. Shang Beghi, a kind of secretary, interpreter, and functionary, serving as medium between the Chinese and Musselman authorities.

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5. Kazi Beg, the kadi or judge.

6. ortengbeghi, postmaster, responsible for all the post-houses existing in his district. The system of posts in the country has much resemblance with the Persian Tchapar; the Government farms out certain roads, and it is the duty of the postmaster to take care that the farmers of them everywhere provide good horses for the public service.

The distance from Kashgar to Komul is reckoned 40 stations, which the orteng performs generally in 16, but on extraordinary emergencies, in 12 or even 10 days. From Komul to Pekin is counted 60 stations, which may also be performed in 15 days, consequently the whole distance from Kashgar to Pekin, which is a journey of 100 stations, is usually performed by the courier in about a month. [Footnote 145]

7. Badjghir, collector of customs.

[Footnote 145: It is remarkable that the postilions, almost always Kalmuks, are able to accomplish these sharp rides, consisting each of thirty days and thirty nights, several times each year. With us such a performance on horseback would be regarded as something extraordinary. The ride of Charles XII. from Demotika to Stralsund, and that of the Turkish courier, from Szigetvar (in Hungary, where Solyman the Magnificent died) to Kutahia in eight days, are famous in history. For the first see Voltaire's 'Life of Charles XII.,' and for the second 'Saadeddin Tadj et Tevarikh.']

_(b.) Inhabitants._

The greater part of the population of Chinese Tartary, that is to say, of the four provinces, occupy fixed habitations, and busy themselves with agriculture. With respect to nationality, they style themselves...o...b..gs, but the first glance detects their Kalmuk {402} origin.

ozbegs, in the sense understood in Bokhara and Khiva, have never existed in Chinese Tartary. When the word is used here, it signifies a mixed race that has sprung from the union of Kalmuks, who invaded the country from the north, and of Kirghis, with the original inhabitants of Persian race; and it deserves particular mention, that in places where the ancient Persian population was thicker (now it has entirely vanished), the Irani type is more dominant than in the contrary case.

Next to these pseudo-ozbegs come the Kalmuks and the Chinese. The former are either military or lead the life of nomads; the latter, who occupy themselves with commerce and handicrafts, are merely to be found in the princ.i.p.al cities, and there only in insignificant numbers. Lastly, we must also name the Tungani or Tongheni, who are spread over the country from Ili to far beyond Komul. In nationality they are Chinese; in religion, however, Musselmans, and belonging all to the Shafe sect. [Footnote 146] Tungani or Tongheni means, in the dialect of Chinese Tartary, converts (in Osmanli Turkish, donme), and, as is confidently a.s.serted, these Chinese, who count a million of souls, were converted in the time of Timour by an Arabian adventurer, who came with the above-named conqueror from Damascus to Central Asia, and roamed about in Chinese Tartary as a wonder-working saint. These Tungani distinguish themselves not only by their gross fanaticism, but by their hate for those of their countrymen who are not Musselmans; and in spite of their const.i.tuting the most advanced post of Islam on the side of the East, they nevertheless send every year a strong contingent of Hadjis to Mecca.

[Footnote 146: The Sunnites number four Mezheb (sects) amongst themselves, i.e. Hanife, Shafe, Maleki, and Hambali. All four stand in equal estimation, and to give the preference to any one is regarded as a sin.]

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As for the general character of the population, I found the Chinese Tartar honest, timid, and, to speak plainly, bordering upon stupidity; his relation to the inhabitants of the other cities in Central Asia is about the same as that of the Bokhariot to the Parisian or the Londoner. Extremely modest in their aspirations, my fellow-travellers have yet often delighted me by the enthusiastic terms which they used when they spoke of their poor homes. The splendour and lavish expenditure discernible in Roum and Persia, and even Bokhara, displease them; and although they are governed by a people differing from themselves in language and religion, still they prefer their own to the Musselman government in the three Khanats. But it would really seem as if they had no cause to be dissatisfied with the Chinese.

Every one from the age of fifteen years upwards, with the exception of Khodjas (descendants of the Prophet) and Mollahs, pay to Government a yearly capitation tax of five Tenghe (three s.h.i.+llings). The soldiers [Footnote 147] are enlisted, but not by compulsion; and the Musselman regiments have besides the advantage of remaining unmixed and forming a single body, and, except in some little external points, [Footnote 148] are not in the slightest degree interfered with. {404} But the higher officials do not escape so easily; they are obliged to wear the dress prescribed to their rank, long moustaches, and pigtail; and, most dreadful of all, they must on holidays appear in the PaG.o.das, and perform a sort of homage before the unveiled portrait of the emperor, by touching the ground three times with the forehead. The Musselmans a.s.sert that their countrymen filling high offices hold on such occasions, concealed between their fingers, a small sc.r.a.p of paper, with 'Mecca' written upon it, and that by this sleight of hand their genuflection becomes an act of veneration, not to the sovereign of the Celestial Empire, but to the holy city of the Arabian Prophet.

[Footnote 147: I am told, that there are at present in the four districts of Chinese Tartary about 120,000 soldiers, forming the garrisons of the four princ.i.p.al towns. One part of them, armed with spear and sword, is called _Tchan-ping_, the others, who bear muskets, are known by the designation of _Shuva_.]

[Footnote 148: Such, for instance, as (1) the robes being made to reach the kaees, and of blue linen, a costume regarded by the Musselmans with abhorrence as distinctive marks of the Chinese; (2) the permitting the moustache to grow, whereas Islam rigidly enjoins that the hair covering the upper lip shall be cut close.]

In social matters it is easy to conceive how two such discordant elements as the Chinese and Musselmans live together. Warm friendly relations seem, under the circ.u.mstances, impossible; but I fancy that I can discern, nevertheless, that no peculiar animosity exists between the two cla.s.ses. The Chinese, who are the minority, never allow the Tartars to feel that they are rulers, and the authorities distinguish themselves by the greatest impartiality. As conversion to the dominant religion is singularly displeasing to the Chinese, it is not surprising that their efforts carefully tend not only to make the Musselmans exact in the performance of their religious duties, but to punish severely those who, in this respect, offend. Does a Musselman omit to pray, the Chinese are wont to say {405} to him, 'Behold how ungrateful thou art; we have some hundreds of G.o.ds, and, nevertheless, we satisfy them all. Thou pretendest to have but one G.o.d, and yet that one thou canst not content!' Even the Mollahs, as I often had occasion to observe, extol the conscientiousness of the Chinese officials, although they deal with their religion in the most unsparing terms.

So, also, the Tartars are never tired of praising the art and cleverness of their rulers, and there is no end to their laudatory strains when they once begin to speak upon the subject of the power of the Djong Kafir (great unbelievers), i.e., the genuine Chinese.

[Footnote 149]

[Footnote 149: The taking of Pekin by the Anglo-French army has not remained hidden from them. When I asked Hadji Bilal, how that was reconcilable with the boasted omnipotence of the Chinese, he observed, that the Frenghis had employed cunning, and had begun by stupefying all the inhabitants of Pekin with opium, and then had naturally and easily made their way into the slumbering city.]

And is it not again most astonis.h.i.+ng that all the followers of Islamism, including those who are farthest to the west, as well as those to be found on its most distant eastern boundaries, whether Turks, Arabs, Persians, Tartars, or ozbegs, ridicule and mock at their own faults just in the same degree as they praise and extol the virtues and merits of the nations not Mohammedan? This is the account I heard everywhere. They admit that taste for the arts, humanity, and unexampled love of justice are attributes of the Kafir (unbelievers), and yet you hear them, with their eyes glancing fire, using an expression like that attributed to a Frenchman, after the battle of Rosbach, 'G.o.d be praised that I am a Musselman! [Footnote 150]

[Footnote 150: 'El hamdu lilla ena Muszlim.']

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_(c. ) Cities._

Amongst the cities, of which we give a list in the account of routes in Chinese Tartary, the most flouris.h.i.+ng are Khoten and Yarkend. The largest are Turfan Ili and Komul; and the objects of most pious veneration, Aksu and Kashgar. In the last, which boasts 105 mosques (probably, however, only mud huts destined for prayer), and twelve Medresse, there is the venerated tomb of Hazreti Afak, the national saint of Chinese Tartary. Hazreti Afak means 'his highness the Horizon,' a phrase by which is meant to be expressed the infinity of the talents of the saint. His actual name was Khodja Sadik. He contributed much to form the religious character of the Tartars. It is said that Kashgar originally was more considerable, and that its population was more numerous, than is the case at present. This decay is owing alone to the invasion of the Khokandi Khodja, who every year surprise the city, drive the Chinese into their fortifications, and remain there plundering and despoiling, until the besieged garrison have despatched their formal interrogatory to Pekin, and have obtained official permission to a.s.sume the offensive. The Khokandi Khodja, a troop of greedy adventurers, have thus for years been in the habit of plundering the city, and yet the Chinese never cease to be Chinese.

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