1895.] H. G. Raverty —Tibbat three hundred and sixty-jive years ago. 109 
place [»(?] at 3,000 Tibbat! misqals [of gold], which are one misqal and 
a half of our weight, and returned again [to Tam-Lik]. 
“ Having completed this arrangement, I set out on my return ; 
and on the road disastrous news reached me of the breaking up and 
dispersion of the force originally sent with me, as will be presently 
explained. [Here reference is made to the acts of ‘Abdu-r-rashid 
Sultan, the son and successor of the late Sultan, Sand Khan, over 
Kashghar]. Rashid Sultan, when he set to work to murder his 
kindred, and afflict and plunder them, despatched an agent into 
Tibbat, and entrusted him with several mandates hearing his seal. 
One was for his brother, Iskandar Sultan, who was along with me, 
saying: “ I give up to thee the territory of Tibbat; and let Mirza 
Haidar and Mahmud Mirza remain there.” To the rest of those com- 
posing the force, to every troop and standard, one of these missives was 
sent, to this effect: “ Every man who after this continues to remain in 
Tibbat, and does not immediately on the receipt of this order, forthwith 
disband and set out towards Yar-kand, his wife, family, and effects will 
be sold in Qir gh iz 1 in exchange for horses.” As this order had been 
received when I was away at Kokah, as already mentioned, and had 
become known throughout the force, and its meaning fully understood, 
the men composing it, considering my absence very fortunate, deserted, 
and set out with all haste towards Yar-kand. Only Iskandar Sultan 
and my cousin, Mahmud Mirza, with a few followers, remained. Two 
days after this catastrophe I arrived at the stage or halting place [Tam- 
Lik] from whence the troops had dispersed and gone off. Iskandar 
Sultan and my cousin, Mahmud, related what had happened, and 
advised that we should not move that day, but remain there over night, 
as some of those who had gone off had done so because they were help- 
1 In another part of his work the author mentions who the Qirghiz are, and 
which information people in the present day, for the most part, are ignorant of. He 
says : “ The Qirghiz are a tribe of Mnghals, a division of the Ulr-ats, of which 
latter race near upon 30,000 remained [in his day] within the limits of Turfan and 
Kashghar. These Qirghiz having manifested much hostility towards the princes of 
the other Mnghals, they separated from them ; and the latter people, having become 
Musalmans, while the Qirghiz continued infidels, the other Mnghals, in consequence, 
expelled them altogether.” I have mentioned these facts, because we may be told 
hereafter that the Qirghiz are a totally different race. 
Mirza Muhammad Haidar calls the tract which these Qirghiz inhabited in his 
day, Qirghiz likewise, that is, the country of the Qirghiz. 
Ibn Hauqal mentions the country of Khirkhiz or Ghirghiz, and says: “The 
country of Tibbat is situated between Khirkhiz and the empire of Cin. CIn lies 
between the sea and the land of the Ghuzz (Turks) and Tibbat; but the other parte 
[some P] of Tibbat were annexed to it.” See page 85. 
