86 H. G. Raverty —Tibbat three hundred and sixty-five years ago. [No. 2, 
He subsequently gives the following account of his expedition into 
Tib bat, which I will render in his own words. 
Account of the Holy War in Tibbat. 
“ Sultan Sa‘Id Khan having come to the determination of under¬ 
taking a holy war against the infidels of Tibbat, it is necessary to give 
some account of that country. It lies in such a position that few 
travellers can manage to reach it, on account of the exceeding difficulty 
of the routes. It is a maze of mountains and valleys, rough, and fur¬ 
rowed with formidable passes and tremendous defiles; and is, in every 
respect, a most difficult and inhospitable region. What from the exces¬ 
sive keenness of the air, the paucity of forage, the scarcity of fuel, and 
the lawless and obdurate people who infest the routes and plunder 
those who happen to fall in their way, there are few travellers who 
have effected a passage through it. 1 It is on this account, probably, 
that Tibbat is not mentioned in such trustworthy books as the *‘Mu‘aj- 
jamu-l-baladan,” the “ Jam-i-Giti,” the “ Mulhaqat-i-Surah,” and 
others, the authors of which have not described Tibbat as other coun¬ 
tries have been described therein, and have contented themselves with 
a brief summary respecting it, but from which, what Tibbat really is, 
is not to be gathered in the least. For this reason, 1 have the boldness 
here to endeavour to show and set forth what the territories included in 
Tibbat really consist of, and to furnish other information respecting it 
which is not obtainable from books. 
“ The region called Tibbat is a vast tract of country in length 
between north and west (N. W.), and south and east (S. E.), eight 
months’ journey, but the breadth of which does not exceed a month’s 
journey, and not less than ten days’ journey. 2 The north-west boun¬ 
dary adjoins Bilaur, the position of which has been previously given ; 
and on the south-east Tibbat extends to IQioju and Salar, which are 
among the dependencies of Kanjan Qu-i of Khita, as has been already 
detailed in the account which I have given of the mountain ranges of 
Mughalistan and Kash gh ar: 3 for the principal mountain range of 
1 But in these days, the “ new woman ” finds her way all about this, as well as 
other out-of-the-way countries, not liking ‘ home.’ 
2 The Tibbatl writers consider all Tibbat to constitute what is known to the 
ancient writers as “ Jambu Dwipa ; ” and that to the east and north-east of Tibbat 
Proper, that is, “ U ” and “ Thsang,” lies in the country of Great Tibbat. “ Central 
Tibbat ” they called “ Dvus,” the first and last letters of which in italics, according 
to the Tibbati mode of writing, are not pronounced. 
3 In the same way as with regard to Tibbat, people Will, down to almost the 
most recent traveller, persist in calling this place and its territory “ Kashgar,” 
which, of course, is incorrect. We can from this imagine how other names must be 
vitiated by them. 
