DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0211
chap. v. PEOPLE OF YARKUND. 195
their commercial regulations are just and equitable.
The word of a Chinese is not doubted, nor does the tea
ever differ in quality from the sample. The Mahom-
medans of Yarkund amount to about 12,000 families.
They are Toorks, and speak a dialect of Toorkee
that is perfectly intelligible to the natives of Bok-
hara. The country people are sometimes called
Moghuls by those who live in cities ; and from
this may have originated our vague name of Mon-
golia. There are Calmuk Tartars settled around
Eela and Yarkund, who have a singular custom to
distinguish their chiefs and grandees, by fixing
deer's horns on their skull-caps. The size and
beauty of the antlers mark the dignity, and are the
red ribands of a Calmuk Tartar. The laxity of
their females, I am assured, entitles them to the
honour of wearing such an ornament. The^Chinese
employ Calmuks in the protection of their frontier.
The Mahommedans of Yarkund appear to differ from
their brethren elsewhere, for the fair sex have a power
and influence not known in other places. They take
the seat of honour in a room, associate freely with
the men, and do not veil; they wear high-heeled
boots, richly ornamented; their head-dress is de-
scribed as very handsome, being a high tiara of
cloth; the features of these fair ones are said to be
most beautiful. When a Bokhara merchant visits
Yarkund, he marries one of these beauties during
his sojourn in the city; and the pair separate, as
they joined, quite as a matter of convenience, when
he leaves the country. These wives are as cheap
as beautiful, and purchased at a premium of two or
o 2
their commercial regulations are just and equitable.
The word of a Chinese is not doubted, nor does the tea
ever differ in quality from the sample. The Mahom-
medans of Yarkund amount to about 12,000 families.
They are Toorks, and speak a dialect of Toorkee
that is perfectly intelligible to the natives of Bok-
hara. The country people are sometimes called
Moghuls by those who live in cities ; and from
this may have originated our vague name of Mon-
golia. There are Calmuk Tartars settled around
Eela and Yarkund, who have a singular custom to
distinguish their chiefs and grandees, by fixing
deer's horns on their skull-caps. The size and
beauty of the antlers mark the dignity, and are the
red ribands of a Calmuk Tartar. The laxity of
their females, I am assured, entitles them to the
honour of wearing such an ornament. The^Chinese
employ Calmuks in the protection of their frontier.
The Mahommedans of Yarkund appear to differ from
their brethren elsewhere, for the fair sex have a power
and influence not known in other places. They take
the seat of honour in a room, associate freely with
the men, and do not veil; they wear high-heeled
boots, richly ornamented; their head-dress is de-
scribed as very handsome, being a high tiara of
cloth; the features of these fair ones are said to be
most beautiful. When a Bokhara merchant visits
Yarkund, he marries one of these beauties during
his sojourn in the city; and the pair separate, as
they joined, quite as a matter of convenience, when
he leaves the country. These wives are as cheap
as beautiful, and purchased at a premium of two or
o 2