INTRODUCTORY NOTICES. 
♦ 
I.—THE KHAN'S AND THE KHOJAS. 
It bo happens that the only history we have of the Moghuls of Central 
Asia, closes at a date almost coeval with the break np of the Moghul king¬ 
dom. The last of the Moghnl line who rnled over the whole of the six 
cities of Eastern Turkistan (the kingdom of “ Altishahr ”) as well as over 
a portion, at least, of the country north of the Tianshan, then known as 
Moghulistan, was Abdu-r-Rashid Khan, otherwise Rashid Sultan, the early 
years of whose reign are recorded in the closing chapters of Part I of the 
TdriJch-i-JRasMdz. The kingdom that Abdu-r-Rashid had inherited in 1533 
was being pressed upon from the north-west by the Usbegs, from the 
north by the Kirghiz, and from the north-east by the Qalmaqs. As far as 
the history of Ids reign can be traced in the Tarikh-i-Jdashidi , it would 
appear that Abdu-r-Rashid was able to repel his enemies and keep his 
dominions together, up to about the year 1546 ; but after that date nothing 
is known of what occurred, until the end of his life—and indeed for a con¬ 
siderable time after. He died in 1565-66, but it is not possible to say 
definitely that he maintained his country intact till that time. All that 
can be gdeaned is that some thirty years after his death, it was almost cer¬ 
tainly divided into two, if not split up into several different chiefships. 
He left thirteen sons to dispute over the inheritance, one of whom, Muham¬ 
mad Khan or Sultan Muhammad, can be traced as having reigned at 
Kash gh ar to within the 17th century, for his death is mentioned in 1609. 
Another, named Abdu-1-Karim, is spoken of as being in power (probably at 
Yarqand) within the same interval, viz., in 1593—though one authority, it 
seems, alludes to his death in that year. In 1602 we hear of a third, called 
Abdu-r-Rahim, as chief in Yarqand, but the remainder are scarcely more 
than mentioned by name. 
These are the only Khans of this generation of the Moghul dynasty for 
whose lives even odds and ends of dates are forthcoming, and as they are 
culled from various sources, which give no information regarding the coun¬ 
try or its affairs, it is only by inference that we can conclude that the 
dominions of Abdu-r-Rashid had been split up so soon after his death. 
Nor do any of these sources except one—and that but vaguely—give any 
indication of how far the foreign enemies of the Mo gh ul Khans wore con¬ 
cerned in dismembering the kingdom; so that it is impossible to judge 
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