110 H. G. Raverty —Tibbat three hundred and sixty-five years ago. [No. 2, 
less, and knew not what else to do, and that it was probable some of 
the staunch ones would rejoin us. I had along with me in this expedi¬ 
tion some hundred veterans, champions, and leaders, who had served 
with me for years, and their fathers and grandfathers had also served, 
who had been with me in many conflicts, and whom I looked upon and 
trusted as equals and brothers, rather than as subordinates. They had 
been selected by me on many occasions for honourable posts, and on the 
part of whom hostility I considered wholly impossible; yet, even these 
deserted me in the night and fled. In the morning I found all had 
deserted me, but Jan Al^mad, Atkah, 1 whom I regarded as my foster 
father, and one of my Qokal-tashis, 2 named Shah Muhammad, whom I 
implicitly trusted, but he came back again, bringing five menial servants 
with him. I was thus relieved of the fear of being left entirely alone ; 
and altogether, that day, about fifty men assembled around me. From 
this halting place we now set out towards Mar-yol. It was the begin¬ 
ning of the winter season, and the sun had entered Capricorn , and the 
cold was so intense as cannot be described. Out of this number with 
me, some forty either lost a hand, foot, ear, eye, or nose, from the frost; 
and with the endurance of these afflictions and tortures we succeeded 
in twenty-five days in reaching Mar-yol again. 
The Ju-ian of Mar-yol, Ta Shigun, [and] Raltah Jighdan, who 
have been mentioned previously, 3 hastened to present themselves and 
tender their services, notwithstanding, that previously, they had been 
treated with severity, plundered, and their people killed. I was rather 
suspicious at this, but, contrary to my expectations, they proceeded to 
perform various sorts of good service for us ; and, to assure us, stated, 
that it was four hundred years that from father to son they had been 
subjects of our Badshahs, “ we their subjects and servants, and they 
our protectors and nourishers ; ” that, “ if at the time when [those 
Badshahs came] in pomp and grandeur, with a great number of followers, 
and they themselves through fear and apprehension had committed any 
transgression or misconduct, it had been visited with corresponding 
punishment, according to usage in such cases. If every one among the 
Ju-ian of Tibbat had at that time submitted and presented themselves, 
they had done so out of fear and terror, but that now they offered 
their services in all sincerity and truth, and from their hearts, not 
from the tip of the tongue.” The fort of Shiah or Shiyah, which is the 
1 Atkah really means a tutor or instructor, — a superior servant entrusted with 
the education of his master’s son. 
2 This word Qokal-tash or Qdkal-dash, for it is written both ways, appears 
equivalent to a subaltern, henchman, or armour-bearer. 
3 Only one of these, Ta Shigun. See page 99. 
