82 H. G. Raverty— Tibbat three hundred and sixty-jive years ago . [No. 2, 
Tibbat three hundred and sixty-jive years ago.—By Major H. G. Raverty, 
Bombay Native Infantry. (Retired.) 
[Read April 1895.] 
At tlie present time the exploration fever in Asia appears to be 
chiefly directed towards Tibbat, 1 miscalled “ Thibet,” “ Tibet,” and the 
like, therefore it may be interesting to give an account of that region— 
of its western and northern portions chiefly — as it was seen by its first 
explorer nearly four centuries since. 
I refer to the Mu gh al Prince, the Mirza, Muhammad Haidar, the 
Gurgan, of the Doghl-at tribe of the Mughals, son of the Mirza, Mu¬ 
hammad Husain, the Gurgan, who held the Government of Shash, or 
Tash-kand, on the part of the sovereign of Kashghar, to whom he was 
related, Muhammad Haidar’s father being descended from Amir, BulacI, 
the first Amir of Kash gh ar who embraced the Muhammadan faith. 
Sultan Sa‘id Khan, the ruler of Kash gh ar and Khutan, and their de¬ 
pendencies, at the period I am writing about, and in whose service 
Muhammad Haidar was, and to whom he was also related, married his 
sister, and gave him his own sister in marriage, hence Muhammad 
Haidar, like his father, and many others, not Amir Timur alone, as has 
been commonly supposed, is styled Gurgan , that is to say, one who has 
married into the family of the reigning sovereign. Muhammad Haidar’s 
mother, likewise, was the younger sister of Zahiru-d-din, Muhammad 
Babar’s mother, they being the daughters of Yunas Khan, who held 
the Government of Andijan, the capital of which was Shash or Tash- 
kand, and who was a direct descendant of Caghatae Khan, one of the 
sons of the Cingiz or Great Khan of the Mu gh als. 
Before giving Mirza Haidar’s account of Tibbat 1 it maybe well to 
refer briefly to what the old Muhammadan writers say about it, but, 
g5j., 
1 The word is spelt by all eastern writers, — Tibbat—and in no other way. 
The actual meaning of the word is “ fine wool,’’ which is obtained from the roots of 
the hair of goats, and which is woven into fine and soft fabrics — shals — which is 
the signification of this latter word. 
