96 H. Gr. Raverfy— Tibbat three hundred and sixty-jive years ago. [No. 2, 
who are unacquainted with it: strangers alone are liable to its attacks; 
and their physicians cannot account for this disease attacking strangers 
and non-dwellers in Tibbat, 1 2 neither do they or any one else know any 
remedy for it. The colder the air the more people are affected by it; 
and it not only attacks human beings, but every living creature [foreign 
to Tibbat ?], and more particularly human beings and horses, as will 
be presently shown. When on one occasion it became necessary to 
make a rapid inroad of one day’s journey, and we set out, on the follow¬ 
ing morning when I awoke, the horses with the force which accompanied 
me seemed very few. On making investigation I found that in that one 
night 2,000 horses had died ; and of my own stud alone there were 
tw^enty-four spare horses which had been taken on, and out of them 
no less than twenty-three had died ! This malady seems to affect horses 
even more than human beings ; and save in Tibbat, I never heard any¬ 
thing like it happening any where else. 
“ The ‘ ulamd, or ecclesiastics of Tibbat, are all, without exception, 
called by the general name of Lamah, 8 but they are styled by different 
titles according to the degree and description of their learning. For 
example : in my time they styled an Imam and a Mujtahid , “ Tongbah ” 
and “ Kajuwa,” respectively. 3 * * * * I used to converse a good deal with 
them by means of an interpreter; but, when the discourse became 
somewhat difficult and abstruse, the interpreter used to be unable to 
understand it perfectly, and incapable of interpreting it, consequently, 
the conversation on such occasions would remain incomplete and un¬ 
finished. But what I understood of the fundamental articles of their 
belief is this [the author here gives an account of the Buddhist doctrine 
which I need not insert here, but merely add what he afterwards men¬ 
tions regarding the Buddha himself]. “ The doctrine of Shaka Muni 
is the religious belief of all Khitae and Tibbat. In the former country 
they style him Shaqiya Muni, and in the latter, Shaqa Toba [or 
1 The Tibbat Is we may say, are born to it, and therefore are not affected 
like strangers by such a rarified atmosphere. 
2 Or Lanbah, both being correct. 
3 An Imam is prelate or chief priest, a leader in religions matters, and Mujta¬ 
hid, an expounder of the law, traditions, etc., and of the Qur’an. It must not 
be supposed that the Mirza means that these Tibbati words are translations of 
Imam and Mujtahid : he merely means that the Buddhist priests of high rank or 
degree are so styled. Tongbah is probably what the Tibbatis style “ Tsonkhapa” 
According to the author of the Tabaqat-l-Ndsiri (see page 1106) however “in 
the time of the Great Qa’an, Uktae, son of the Cingiz Khan, masjids were founded 
in all the cities of Tingit, Tamghaj. and Tibbat, and the countries of Cin ; and all 
the forts and strongholds of the countries of the east were given in charge to a 
number of Musalman Amirs.” 
