One book, many names: 'the Turkish Shahnameh'
Editorial contextThe prose preface of the Herat manuscript says the book was finished 'in the land of Kashgar' and presented to Bughra Khan, who made the author his chamberlain, hence his title Khass Hajib. It boasts that the Chinese called it 'The Manners of Kings', the Iranians 'the Turkish Shahnameh', and the 'Turanians' Kutadgu Bilig. The Turks here are a named people with their own literary language, 'the Turkish tongue' of the eastern lands.
The people of Chin called it Adab al-Muluk, 'the manners of princes'; the scholars of the prince of Machin called it Ayn al-Mamlaka, 'the eye of the realm'; the easterners called it Zinat al-Umara, 'the ornament of princes'. The Iranians called it the Turkish Shahnameh.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Leute von Cin haben es Adab ul Muluk, Sitten der Fürsten genannt; die Gelehrten des Fürsten von Macin haben Ajn ul Memleket, das Auge des Reiches geheissen; die Morgenländer haben es Zinet un Umera, Zierde der Fürsten betitelt. Die Iranier hiessen es das türkische Schah Nameh
About Qarakhanid Turks
Keep in mind
The preface is a later addition praising the book, not the author's own words; its claims about foreign names are a boast.
Checked against the page image.
Walled Muslim towns of Kashgar and Yarkand, unlike the Eleuths
Editorial contextAmiot explains why the Muslim princes of Yarkand and Kashgar thought they could resist the Qing after the Eleuths fell: unlike the nomad Eleuths they had firearms, walled towns and strongholds, and Muslim neighbours to help them. The Qing generals took both towns; the younger Khoja's head was sent to Peking in a box and displayed over the palace's Wu Men gate.
They had the advantage over the Eleuths of firearms; they had walled towns and some strongholds, and they could be helped by the other Mahometans, their neighbours.
Working translation
Original wording
Ils avoient par dessus les Eleuths l'avantage des armes à feu, ils avoient des villes murées, quelques places fortes, & ils pouvoient être secourus par les autres Mahométans leurs voisins.
About Muslim townspeople of 'Little Bukharia' under the two Khojas; contrasted with the Eleuths
Keep in mind
These town-dwellers are the Turkic Muslims of the Tarim oases, not Tartars in Amiot's usage; the passage is useful for the contrast.
Kirghiz snow-treaders keep the pass open
Editorial contextIn winter the snow in the passes west of Kashgar lay a man's height deep or more. Izzet Ullah describes Kirghiz posted along the road whose job was to trample the snow hard so caravans could cross. Even so, several horses died, including his own.
The Kirghizes tread the snow down so as to make it hard, and then the caravans pass; a certain number of Kirghizes are appointed to this duty,
About Kirghiz
Continue in this sourceMir Izzet Ullah's journey from Kashmir to Bukhara1812 to 1813 · 11 passagesMerchants and 'the caravan from Cathay'
Editorial contextIn the chapter on merchants the poet advises the prince to welcome them: they travel from east to west, bring the finest clothes and 'wonders', and without them nobody could dress well in winter or see strings of pearls. When 'the caravan of Cathay' (China) sets out, thousands of gifts follow. It places the Turkic court of Kashgar on the great trade road between China and the west.
7 If there were no merchant who travels the world, how could you clothe yourself in the middle of harsh winter? 8 When Cathay's caravan sets out, it is a caravan from which thousandfold gifts will come.
Working translation
Original wording
7 Gäbe es keinen Kaufmann, der die Welt durchzieht, Wie könntest du dich kleiden in der Mitte des rauhen Winters? 8 Wenn Chatai's Karavane dahinzieht, so ist es eine Karavane, Von wo tausendfache Spenden kommen sollen.
About Qarakhanid Turks and Silk Road merchants
A note on this quote
Checked against the page image.
Kashgar, the 'many-coloured brick' city
Editorial contextThe Qing gazetteer describes Kashgar as one of the great cities of Turkestan, so famous that foreigners called all East Turkestanis 'Kashgarians'. It lists its Manchu and Chinese garrison, taxes paid in cash, grain and cotton cloth, silk and gold-thread products, and skilled jade polishers and goldsmiths. A note explains the name as 'many-coloured brick building', because the city had many buildings of coloured brick.
Kash means many-coloured, gar a brick building. There are many buildings of coloured brick here, which is where the name comes from. It is also said that the word Kashgar means rich.
Working translation
Original wording
Кашб значитъ разноцвѣтный, гаръ кирпичное зданіе. Здѣсь много разноцвѣтныхъ кирпичныхъ зданій, отъ чего и названіе дано. Еще говорятъ, что слово Кашгаръ означаетъ богатый.
About Turkestanis (Uighurs) under Qing rule
Keep in mind
A folk etymology from the Chinese compiler; the true origin of the name Kashgar is uncertain.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Turkestan speech sounds like Kazan Tatar
Editorial contextWhile in Peking, Timkovsky talked through an interpreter with men from Little Bucharia (the Tarim basin towns) and noticed that their language was very like that of the Kazan Tatars, 'who are also of Turkish origin'. Here 'Tartar' means the Turkic-speaking Muslims of the Volga, a different people entirely from the Mongols he had just crossed.
In the conversations I had in China, through the medium of an interpreter, with natives of Little Bucharia who had come to Peking, I observed that their language much resembles that of the Tartars of Kasan, who are also of Turkish origin.
About Turkic peoples of Eastern Turkestan; Kazan Tatars
Continue in this sourceA Russian mission crosses Mongolia to Peking, 1820 to 18211820 to 1821 · 14 passagesFrozen half-moon dumplings for winter journeys
Editorial contextPart 2 of Weber's work prints an account 'Of Tartarian Bukhara' by an author who says he had been in Little Bukhara himself. He notes that the men's dress differs little from the Tartar, that they eat with their fingers and wooden spoons, drink tea with milk, salt and butter, and fill half-moon-shaped pastries with chopped meat, which they freeze and carry in a sack on long winter journeys to boil into soup.
They fill a kind of pastry, shaped like a half moon, with it. On long journeys, especially in winter, they take a good supply of these pastries with them and carry them in a sack. When this food has first frozen thoroughly in the air, it is cooked in boiling water, and a fairly good soup is made of it.
Working translation
Original wording
Sie füllen mit denselben eine Art Pasteten, die wie ein halber Mond gestaltet sind. Auf weiten Reisen, insonderheit in Winter, nehmen sie einen guten Vorraht von diesen Pasteten mit, und tragen sie bey sich in einem Sakke. Wenn nun diese Speise vorher an der Luft rechtschaffen durchgefroren ist, so wird sie in einem siedenden Wasser gekocht, und eine ziemlich gute Suppe davon gemacht.
About Bukharans of Little Bukhara (Turkic Muslims of the Tarim oases, then under Zunghar rule)
Keep in mind
The author is not named; he says he had visited Little Bukhara.
Felt tents pitched beside a domed tomb
Editorial contextCrossing the mountains west of Kashgar in deep winter, Izzet Ullah notes Kirghiz felt tents lining the road (p. 321). At the stage called Mizar Gumbaz he found a domed building with Kirghiz tombs and the living Kirghiz camped in tents beside it: permanent structures for the dead, portable ones for the living.
Mizar Gumbuz, … west by north, eight hours. A building with a cupola and Kirghiz tombs; their tents were also pitched near the building; supplies plentiful;
About Kirghiz
Continue in this sourceMir Izzet Ullah's journey from Kashmir to Bukhara1812 to 1813 · 11 passages