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The economy of Chinese Central Asia (Xinjiang) was rooted, besides all else, in inter and intra regional trade and commerce which generally characterized the transactions in a few indigenous farm and craft products and foreign luxury goods (1). The former were largely household manufactures for which raw material was locally arranged though a certain percentage of it was, at times, imported into due to the un-even distribution of hydrocarbon (2) and other resources. This obviously entailed minimal use of whatever was available for the desired purpose.
The economy of Chinese Central Asia (Xinjiang) was rooted, besides all else, in inter and intra regional trade and commerce which generally characterized the transactions in a few indigenous farm and craft products and foreign luxury goods (1). The former were largely household manufactures for which raw material was locally arranged though a certain percentage of it was, at times, imported into due to the un-even distribution of hydrocarbon (2) and other resources. This obviously entailed minimal use of whatever was available for the desired purpose.
Therefore, the evolution and growth of these industries was usually determined by the factors of supply and demand, availability of raw material and skilled labour, level of technology etc. presupposing thereby that the people, to whom agriculture was the primary occupation, adopted some auxiliary occupations to reinforce their resources for a better mode of existence. Obviously, these supporting occupations ran parallel to agriculture; hence, the peasantry had the option of “multiple choice profession” at one and the same time. However, besides them, a definite class of the skilled men was exclusively absorbed in the specialized brand of craft manufacturing: to them, agriculture was either no or the secondary source of livelihood. This was so because agriculture did not give job to the entire population and more so, there obtained a marked diversity in trade flow at the regional level. These two factors rendered the division and labour organization fairly inevitable.
Consequently, from the growth of a given product, agricultural or industrial, down to its final processing and marketting, groups of skilled persons and intermediaries were essentially involved at different stages. In spite of this, the industrial production was not that adequate as could cater to the indigenous requirements; that of meeting the foreign demand was too distant. Likewise, the region did not locally produce whole lot of requisite raw material. This automatically subjected its people to foreign raw imports. Several reasons contributed to this phenomenon: the region’s landlocked geo-physical formation, its distant location from the advanced world, imbalanced distribution of resources, (3) distinct flow of trade and the primitive mode of technology. Perhaps for these reason, the region’s industrial products were not that perfect and sufficient as that of their counterparts in the immediate or extended neighbourhood though a few of them excelled in make, frame and design and represented an exquisite blending due to extraneous influences.
The present paper explores the functioning of some dominant industries that obtained in Chinese Central Asia during the 19th and the 20th century. The effort aims at accounting for the whole lot of information related to their structure, marketing, labour organization, technology, sources of raw material, etc. The information has been pieced together by scanning several sources, primary & secondary, to present a total view of an industrial sector that nonetheless had, little or large, to do with agriculture and other determinants of the region’s economy.

Textile Industry:
Among the cottage industries, textile industry was fairly popular. The crafts men produced variety of fabrics in cotton, wool and silk. Cotton was produced from the fibre of the cotton plant which was abundantly grown in the region. We possess no information about the existence of a hand-spindle or a spinning wheel (charkha). However, the latter of the two had ample scope for fly wheel was already in vogue for silk-spinning in the immediate neighbourhood. Similarly, the carder’s bow of which we have no reference, must have been equally a part of the craft technology in the region. So must have been the cotton-carder indispensable in the whole process of cotton textile manufacturing. Whatever the structure of technology, the cotton yarn was spun and woven indoors mostly by the peasant women (4) into a coarser sort of cloth termed khan from which were knitted robes or cloaks, women garments, loose shirts and trousers; all cheaper than foreign cotton (5).
Unlike cotton, woolen fabric was manufactured from the wool of the fine breed sheep or shawl goat of which every peasant retained a good number (6). However, the details about the spinning process in the woolen manufacturing are not known. In all likelihood, it must have been much more the same as that of the cotton. While cotton and woolen fabric was produced from cotton plant and sheep wool, silk was produced from a sharply distinct material, i.e. silk worms or cocoons imported into from China. These were fed on several mulberry plants grown abundantly all over the region (7). As a matter of fact, silk fabric was one of the peculiarities of Khotan in whole region although Yarkand contributed no less to the production of the same commodity since early earliest times (8). A specific method identical to Kashmir in the neighbourhood, was followed for silk reeling or procuring silk thread from the cocoons. Accordingly, the sticking out ends of the silk was carefully picked from a cauldron of boiling cocoons. These were later fastened or rolled on a spinning bobbin driven by a large fly wheel and the accumulated thread or yarn thereon was then transferred to successive bobbins for drying and cleaning. After boiling the cocoons fully, the waste was thrown to rot (9). Anyhow, the entire process of silk reeling must have remained the domain of the men as spinning and weaving was done by women and children (10).
The technology used for weaving the cotton or silk thread was, by and large, identical. The women and children worked on narrow hand looms or factories, 12-15 feet long, which were owned by some merchants. A big Khotan merchant had 200 girls to work in his self-owned cotton and silk knitting looms or factories housed in and outside his cottage (11). During the knitting process, the weavers followed a pattern in which warp and weft were arranged right and left respectively and a mouthful of water was splashed on to the weaving thread to keep the air moist in absence of the overall precipitation in the region (12). However, the weaving pattern was specific and traditional and the scope of creativity was limited. As a sequence, the results in the craftsmanship were not always that compatible and exquisite as the delicate fabric would usually demand (13).
Like cotton and silk, weaving of carpets was well established since earliest times especially in Khotan (14). As regards their raw material, it was mostly made of silk and wool according to the requisite proportion; no evidence is available of their being made of a single or specific kind of yarn. Whatever the case, the yarn was woven in small factories in varied designs; the largest measured 8×5 feet. In texture, they had monochrome or black, white or grey base and their broad-banded borders contained symmetrically arranged designs of flowers and rosy stalks of un-mistakenably Persian design though wave and key pattern, manifested a pure Chinese influence. The mixed influences vindicate the element of blending in their frame and form, a legacy of the ancient times which was carried forward through imitations up to the early 20th century (15).
Other than the carpets, the furnishing material included rugs of distinct colours, exquisite designs, texture and size. Khotan, in particular, was celebrated for the rug manufacturing (16). Felts too were made from a pressed mass of wool and hair and were produced in vivid colours and striking designs in the entire belt between Yarkand and Khotan. Because of their exquisiteness, they had export market in India and other countries. Taken together, rugs and felts had a considerable Persio-Chinese influence (17). The same combination was visible in the art of embroidery or decorating clothes, etc. with patterns and pictures consisting of stitches. The art was especially popular in Khotan and Kucha districts from the 6th-7th century and bore multiple influences; the chain stitch was Turkish, wave and cloud pattern including the butterflies Chinese and the flowers western (18). The stitch work was conducted in silken, golden and silver thread on robes, clothing, green velvet, black-red caps and green plush bonnets. A certain percentage of thread not known was imported into from India; the velvet was brought from western or Russian Turkistan (19). Other forms of decoration included studding the gold fringed border of the women’s veils with pearls and rubies. Ear drops and bracelets were decorated with emeralds and turquoise (20). Metal discs or medallions worn around the neck by the ruling classes as ornaments, were not unknown to the region (21).
Besides, the region was famous after some tannery products of exportable nature. In fact, principal trade products of Yarkand, Kashghar, Aqsu and Kucha, were boots, shoes, saddlery and harness. Sheepskin used as lining for fur coats and caps, were well tanned. Packs too were manufactured of raw-goat skin (22). Paper making from pulped mulberry bark, also contributed to the large craft industry in the region. Its process exactly corresponded with the one that existed in China from the early times (23). This, in a way, indicates that the said industry evolved in the region under the Chinese influence. While information about paper making technology is scanty, one has sufficient evidence about the candle-making industry. The candles containing a wick were made from animal fat or tallow dips by winding loose cotton round a light stick, thick at the top and thin at the bottom. While paper-making bore the Chinese influence, the candle-making had the European effect (24).
The making of the match sticks from thin wooden slices whose one end contained sulphur for the purpose of burning, was yet another industry known to the region. Significantly, Aqsu and Kucha districts abounded with sulphur deposits (25). However, there is no explanation about the kind of wood used or the process involved in this trade. We simply know that the manufacturers sold their products to the hawkers for onward sale in the streets and markets (26). Stone-carving (27) and wood work also absorbed a good number of professionals. The wood-workers made water vessels and hookah bottoms from the rind of the gourd grown in Yarkand and other places. They skillfully scooped out water baskets from the central part of the wooden log (28). Many others specialized as the copper smiths, tin smiths and the jewelers; a particular class was proficient enough in making filigree or delicate jewellery items from twisted silver wire. Still others especially in Kashghar had the distinction in making musical instrument (29).
Another important craft was the pottery. The potters produced variety of earthenware such as cooking pots, hookah bowls, vases, cups, etc. The cups were three times bigger than their European counterparts and bore both European and the Chinese influence in make and material (30). Besides, mill men formed yet another professional class absorbed in extracting oil from linseed in a mill housed in a shed. The youth operated the mills indicative of the use of human rather than the cattle or water power (31). However; water mills were used for husking rice and milling wheat, barley and maize. These water mills were usually situated near the banks of the canals and rivers and each mill termed sucana featured a structure driven by a wheel with a single cog, a pair of pestle rising and falling alternately like a long slender hammer (32). References pointing to household mills for producing oil or milling grains are unfortunately lacking.
The region was also recognized for some metallic industries. The available mineral deposits for the purpose were properly mined and the mining rights in case of precious metals were monopolized by the king and his ruling class (33). Given the presence of metallic resources, the region flourished in several industries: copper industry was one of them for which ores were available at Aqsu, Kucha and Sairam (34). The copper making units were situated near the immediate source of their raw supply perhaps to save transport charges (35). After smelting, the raw copper was transformed into a good number of beautifully chased wares such as copper basins and jugs (Aftaba-lagan) with turban heads, teapots ( Samavars) and cooking utensils. In make and substance, these wares had adequate outside influence especially of Isfahan, the Chinese influence was non-existent for the Chinese were disinclined to copper wares. Being expensive, only rich strata was used to it: to the poor strata, it was unaffordable (36). Apart from the domestic utility, the copper metal was indispensably used for minting tanga, (37) a strong copper coin with a square hole in the middle. There was a copper mine in Kashghar around 1922 that yielded an excellent smelting ore useful for minting copper coins of brittle nature (38). Along with copper, brass wares were also manufactured in the region. Skrine reports that commonly produced brass utensils carried elaborate and detailed floral designs in pierced metal work (39).
Like copper, the region distinguished itself in the iron industry. Raw material for the same was locally arranged from the Kizil Tagh Mountains in the south of Yangi-Hissar district and Yarkand-Kashghar belt containing red soil. In this case too, innumerable furnaces commissioned for smelting ores/rocks near their immediate source of supply (40). These furnaces ordinarily resembled tiny sheds 4-5 feet high with a covered roof and an exit to allow smoke. For smelting ore , six boys and girls constantly blew bellows with each hand, twelve in all, to pump air for burning charcoal and generating heat to a high temperature usually essential for melting and obtaining pure metal from the ore. The metal was extracted through a two feet deep pit in the furnace. After every cycle of heat, the ore was broken with a hammer to soften it, cleanse from impurities and mould it into fine grained steel. Afterwards, it was shaped into agricultural and industrial tools, war weapons (swords, etc.) and units of weight and scales (41) in private or royal workshops (42). Nevertheless, whole process was laborious and gave little yield notwithstanding sufficient man power and fuel. For example, 4 charaks of iron were obtained from 20 charaks (£16) of ore and that too after burning equal amount, i.e. 20 charaks of charcoal (43) which suggests a very lengthy and traditional process involved in the process.
Gold industry counted one among the most precious industries of the region. Its mines were situated in the lap of the Khotan and Keriya mountains and its ores comprised the dust mixed with nodules or lumps not bigger than a broad-bean (44). The method employed for extracting gold was very primitive in that the workers crawled into a hole located adjacent to the canal and river banks. After strenuous efforts, they passed out trays filled with bluish gravely earth. These were later worked in a wooden pan to collect 2-7 tiny grains of red or yellow gold, a low yield from the river sands that just valued 1 tanga (2 pennies) (45). Despite this, the metal was invaluable because of which all mines were monopolized by the govt. and no private individual was authorized to undertake mining or sell the produce on his own (46). However, the govt. farmed out the right of gold extraction to the local chiefs for a fixed sum of 25 taels per-tael weight. These chiefs sold the acquired right to the highest bidders who, on their own, arranged cheap and involuntary labour and paid them low wages for the work: whole labour force consisted of 13,500 individuals (47). Thus, most often, the bidders were quite exploitative and oppressive as in one case, they forcibly pushed 200-300 miners in chilly winters to undertake mining at high altitudes and distant places which usually took them 40 days from proper Khotan (48). Unluckily, one does not trace information on the usage of the given metal except that the women of the rich strata were used to gold and silver ornaments (49). The silver metal was also useful for minting silver coins termed yamboos or koroos valuing £5 -£16 according to weight (50).

Jade Industry:
The region’s most valuable produce was formed of a hard, transparent and rough type of stone called marble, jade or jaspis. Its mining dating back the 13th century, was subsequently carried on through out the 17th and 20th centuries (51). It was very valued export article and was traced in the Kunlun mountains and the famous Khotan rivers of Karakash and Urungkash (52). Being lucrative enough, it developed into an industry that provided employment to thousands of families especially in Khotan (53). Having two kinds, Khotan produced high grade white coloured jade from its river pebbles which was not found elsewhere in the 15th century. It had a great demand and fetched a high price. However, its green coloured counterpart was relatively inferior and expensive due to the large in-put labour and other expenditures on its mining (54).
Like gold, the quarrying rights in jade were monopolized and apportioned by the government to the bidders/ merchants against large sums. No one other than the respective bidder was allowed to collect or lay hand on jade resources in an assigned area. The right to collection of nephrite was also farmed out. Every bidder dug the area within his concerned area. The diggers were mostly the Chinese (55). Whatever the nature of mining rights and labour organization, it remains a fact that the jade industry notched up well under the Chinese as China proper was its immediate market where it was fabricated into varieties such as vases, clothing ornaments and girdles (56).
After the fall of the Chinese rule in 1864, the industry developed decaying symptoms due to strained relations between the region’s Muslim ruler and the Chinese govt. However, it picked up again with the shift of the region’s power into the Chinese hands in 1876 (57). Like gold and jade, the ruling class had monopoly (58) of lead mines in Kashghar and Sarikol valley, saltpeter in Usch Turfan and coal in the jungles eastward of Yarkand (59).
To sum up, the region was celebrated for several small and medium scale industries. Most of them were located in small houses/ cottages or factory shops often termed as the karkhans. Large scale industries in the modern sense of word did not exist at all. While in some cases, the production and marketing was limited, in others, it was quite wide in space and quantity. Another distinguishing feature was reflected in the supply of raw materials. Part of it was arranged locally and part of it was brought forth from the outside. In qualitative terms too, some bore quite meticulous and exquisite designs and were, as such, fairly attractive, others were just impressive and were not comparable with the quality products in the immediate neighbourhood. The poor quality was understandable given the landlocked and stereotyped frame of the region and its people. However, in terms of labour organization, management and primitive technology, both types of industries had common characteristics. Moreover, their allied products complemented each other in the region’s barter system. Despite some incompatibilities, the aforementioned crafts and industries contributed a lot in sustaining the region’s economy and its relations with the outer world. Importantly, they exhibited a blending in art and craft due to a wide variety of extraneous influences from China, Turkey, India, Iran, Samarqand ,Bukhara and other territories of Western or Russian Central Asia.

1. Mushtaq A.Kaw, “Trade and Commerce in Chinese Central Asia”, Central Asia: Introspection, (ed.) Mushtaq A.Kaw & Aijaz Bandey, Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir, 2006.
2. During our period of study, the region was extra-ordinarily significant: often, for example, its natural wealth beneath the land which included uranium, platinum, gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other precious stones. Iron, lead copper, silver, sulphur, tin and mica, were equally abundant. Its coal and oil resources were not deficient even. By the end of the 20th century, oil reserves were estimated at 6.5 billion tons . Gas reserves were also available in billions of cubic metres. Thus oil in the Eastern Turkistan region contained as much crude as Saudi Arabia. As a matter of fact, China’s one-third of requirements were met by the coal and oil deposits in Xinjiang province.: http://alfatihoun.edaama.org/ Fichiers/ uyguristan/
Uyguristan.htm
3. George Handerson, Lahore to Yarkand,( C. 1870), Lahore, pp. 133-34; C.P.Skrine, Chinese Central Asia, pp. 201-2; The Pamir (C. 1864), Vol.I, New Delhi, reprint, 1993, P.232; http://alfatihoun.edaama.org/Fichiers/uyguristan/Uyguristan.htm.
4. Lahore to Yarkand, pp. 133-34, 137, 140-41; H.W.Bellow, Kashmir and Kashghar:A Narrative of the Journey of the Embassy to Kashghar in 1873-74,Delhi, reprint, 1989, pp. 221-22; Bayard Taylor,Travels in Cashmer, Little Thibet and Central Asia,(1876-81), New York, 1892, pp. 25-26; Robert Shaw, Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar,(C.1867-69),New Delhi, reprint, 1996, p.472; David Fraser, Transhimalaya Unveiled,(C.1906), Vol.I, Delhi,1986, pp. 244-45; The Pamirs, Vol.I, pp. 331-32.
5. Lahore to Yarkand, p. 137; Chinese Central Asia, pp. 201-2; The Pamirs, Vol.I, P.232; W.H.Wathen, “Memoir on Chinese Tartary”, Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal,(Henceforth JASB),Vol.4, No.48,Calcutta,Dec.1835,p. 655; The Cambridge History of China, Vol.X,1800-1911,Cambridge, 1978, p.72.
6. Kashmir and Kashghar, pp. 321-22; Travels in Cashmere, Little Thibet and Central Asia, p. 244; Transhimalaya Unveiled, Vol.I, pp. 244-45; Forbidden Journey from Peking to Kashmir, London, 1935, pp. 225-26; The Cambridge History of China, Vol.X, p.72.
7. Basil Davidson, Turkestan Alive: New Travels in Central Asia, London, 1957, P. 183.
8. Transhimalaya Unveiled,Vol.I, pp. 218-19.
9. Lahore to Yarkand, pp. 133-34, 137; Chinese Central Asia, pp. 201-2; The Pamirs, Vol.I, P.232; Turkestan Alive: New Travels to Central Asia, p. 183; The Cambridge History of China, Vol. X, p. 72.
10. George N. Roerich, Trails to Innermost Asia (C. 1926), New York, 1931, pp. 63-64; Turkestan Alive: New Travels to Central Asia, p. 183.
11. Lahore to Yarkand, pp. 133-34;The Pamirs, Vol.I, p. 232;Turkestan Alive: New Travels in Central Asia, p. 183.
12. Transhimalaya Unveiled, Vol. I, pp. 218-19.
13. Trails to Innermost Asia, pp. 63-64; Bill Drake, The Cultivator’s Handbook of Marijuana, Berkeley, 1970, p.6; The Cambridge History of China, Vol. X, p. 72.
14. Trails to Innermost Asia, pp. 63-64; Chinese Central Asia, pp. 173-74.
15. Chinese Central Asia, p. 6.
16. Trails to Innermost Asia, pp. 63-64; Chinese Central Asia, p.6.
17. Chinese Central Asia, pp. 173-74.
18..Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 283; Turkestan Alive: New Travels in Central Asia, p. 182. ; Chinese Central Asia, pp. 173-74.
19. Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 283.
20. Chinese Central Asia, pp. 173-74.
21. The Pamirs, Vol. I, pp. 330-32; Trails to Innermost Asia, pp. 63-64.
22. Chinese Central Asia, p. 111.
23 .Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, p. 273.
24. Turkestan Alive: New Travels in Central Asia, p. 142.
25. Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, p. 273.
26. Chinese Central Asia, pp. 112-13.
27. Lahore to Yarkand, pp. 109-110, 134-35; Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 220.
28. Turkestan Alive: New Travels in Central Asia, p.142.
29. Lahore to Yarkand, pp. 109-110; Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 220.
30. Kashmir and Kashghar, pp. 268-69; Travels in Cashmere, Little Thibet and Central Asia, p.9.
31.Travels in Cashmere, Little Thibet and Central Asia, p.156; Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 155-57; The Pamirs, Vol.I, pp. 331-32.
32.C.Wessels, Early Jesuit Travellers, 1603-1721, Hague, 1924, pp. 28-29; Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 385-87.
33.Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 473-76; The Cambridge History of China, Vol.X, p.73.
34.Ahmad Shah Naqashbandi,” Narrative of the travels from Cashmere through Yarkund, Kokan, Bokhara and Cabul in 1852”. Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, (Henceforth JASB ) Vol. 25, No. 4, Calcutta, 1856, pp. 344-58; The Cambridge History of China, Vol.X, p.73.
35.Lahore to Yarkand, pp. 109-10, 134-35; Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 220; Chinese Central Asia, pp. 174-75.
36.Twenty five such coins made 1 tanga. These coins were run on a string for which smaller denominations were detached at will; 2.5 strings made 4 pennies.:Travels in Cashmere, Little Thibet and Central Asia, p. 183.
37.Whole region had two diverse monetary systems; one in the north-east(Zungaria & Uighuristan), was based on silver by weight. Hence, silver coins termed taels were in large circulation: copper coins were rarely found there. Koroos or yamboos were the smaller denominations of the tael and each koroos valued £17 and fetched 100 copper tangas. In south-west sub-region(Altishahr), the monetary system was based on copper and the unit of currency was the pul, a pure red copper coin “red cash”(hung-ch’ien); each pul was equal to 25 tangas and each tanga represented a group of 25 smaller coins with holes pierced in them and often called dahcheen(15 dahcheen equal to 1¼ pennies).
Copper coins were minted at Aqsu and Ili or Ilchi with an annual turn over of 26,000 strings (1,000 puls) and 1,722 strings (1,000 cash each) respectively. Both mints coined twice in the spring and autumn and the coins of both places weighed equally, i.e. 12 Chinese ounces though in relative value, pul valued five times larger than Ili cash for being of pure copper metal. But compared to silver, the pul in itself valued far lesser so that a certain number of copper coins namely dahcheen made one silver ingot called koroos or yamboo The reason was that copper was locally mined whereas silver was imported from outside and was, therefore, relatively costlier.: Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 464-65; Chinese Central Asia, pp. 59, 220, 261-62; P. S. Nazaroff, Moved on from Kashmir to Kashghar (C.1922), London, 1935, p.29; The Cambridge History of China, Vol. X, PP. 61-62.
38.Chinese Central Asia, pp. 174-75.
39.Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, p.241.
40. Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 473-76.
41.Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 288.
42.Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 288.
43.Travels in Cashmere, Little Thibet and Central Asia, p. 193.
44.Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 385-87,473-76.
45.Chinese Central Asia, pp. 255-56.
46.Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 385-87.
47.Chinese Central Asia, pp. 161-62.
48.W.H.Wathen, “Memoir on Chinese Tartary and Khotan”, JASB, Vol. 4, No.48, Calcutta, Dec.1835, p. 657; Ahmad Shah Naqashbandi, “Narrative of the travels from Cashmere through Yarkund, Kokan, Bokhara and Cabul in 1852”, JASB, Vol. 25, No. 4, Calcutta, 1856, pp. 350-51.
49. Kashmir and Kashghar, p.282.
50. Lahore to Yarkand, p.142.
51. Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 473-76.
52.Early Jesuit Travellers, p. 27; Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 473-76.
53. Travels in Cashmere, Little Thibet and Central Asia, pp. 106-37,244.
54.Mirza Haider Dughlat, Tarikh-I Rashidi, Eng.trans. N.Elias and Denison Ross, A History of the Mughals of Central Asia, Delhi, reprint, 1986, pp. 301-2; Early Jesuit Travellers, p. 27; Trails to Innermost Asia, pp. 63-64; Wathen, “Memoir on Chinese Tartary”, JASB, Vol. 4, No.48, Calcutta, Dec.1835, p. 657; Ahmad Shah Naqashbandi, “Narrative of the travels from Cashmere through Yarkund, Kokan, Bokhara and Cabul in 1852”, JASB, Vol. 25, No. 4, Calcutta, 1856, p. 350.
55. Early Jesuit Travellers, pp. 28-29.
56. A History of the Mughals of Central Asia, pp. 301-2.
57. Kashmir and Kashghar, pp.283-84; Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp. 473-76.
58. Chinese Central Asia, pp. 161-62.
59. Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp.336, 473-76.
In Usch Turfan, the saltpeter was available in plenty and the sheep constantly munched and licked up the earthen surface and the walls for deriving taste.: Visit to High Tartary and Kashghar, pp.336.