100 H. G. Raverty —Tibbat three hundred and sixty-jive years ago. [No. 2, 
be procurable. No one could give indication of any sucli place in 
Tibbat; and the general opinion was, that it was advisable to enter 
Kash-mir, and take up our winter quarters there. 1 If we could sub¬ 
jugate it, well, otherwise, having passed tlie winter there, we could 
leave it when the spring came round. Having reinforced the troops 
left to hold the different places in Tibbat [this part of it], we left 
Mar-yol and those tracts, and set out towards Kash-mir. News now 
reached me that the Klian himself [Sultan Sa‘ld Khan, ruler of Kash- 
ghar] had arrived in these parts (Tibbat), and that on the road he had 
been attacked with dam-girl, the malady peculiar to this infidel land; 
and that the Khan wished to see me as quickly as possible. I therefore 
left the forces along with me at the very place where the news reached 
me, and set out at once for the Khan’s presence. 
“ I previously mentioned that the Khan had intended to advance 
into Tibbat towards the dol-pah or dasht by way of Khutan, having 
despatched me with a part of his forces towards Balti. At the period 
in question the sun was in Aries. The Khan, however, passed a month 
in some of the summer stations, and also in the pasture lands of the 
mountains of Kaslighar, until, in the meanwhile, the season of Sunbal 
had come round [the sun had entered the constellation Virgo~\. People 
in the habit of passing to and fro in these parts represented to the 
Khan, that the time had gone by, and that after this, all the waters of 
the rivers would be entirely frozen up, in such wise that no water 
would be procurable, and that a sufficient quantity of firewood was not 
to be obtained in that part enough to thaw a sufficient quantity to 
supply the wants of man and beast. 2 Further, that it was necessary 
to make the utmost endeavours to procure and lay in a sufficiency of 
the droppings of the wild qutas or yah, to be able, at least, to cook 
broth. On this account, to secure a supply, a number of the men of 
the force [with the Khan] remained behind on this route, on foot, for 
this purpose. The Khan did not wish to retire and thus spoil this holy 
warfare, and said that difficulties and hardships were to be expected, 
winter quarters. But Lieut.-Col. T. H. Holdich, R. E., who was with the Af gh an 
Boundary Commission, has made a discovery to the contrary ; for in his “ Report ” 
of the 14th of March, 1887, to the Secretary of State for India, page 25, he assures 
us that “ kishlaks ” are “ mud villages,” from “time immemorial ” perhaps. After 
this, what might ilaq, or il dgh be, which signify in the same language, a place where 
nomads take up their summer quarters P 
1 We have been repeatedly informed by persons who wish to be considered 
authorities in these matters, that we need not have any fear, because there are no 
practicable routes leading into Kash-mir through Tibbat, and that that country was 
never yet invaded from the north. Here is a proof of their incorrectness. 
* Showing that such was the usual method of obtaining water at that season. 
