Karakorum

“ We cross the mighty Karakorum range to-morrow—a great event. The ascent is said to be easy, and the road good. Indeed, I believe the great difficulties in our journey to have been surmounted at Bursey. But the want of grass and fuel still attends us. ”

“ At the back was the Gobi, or as the Chinese term it, the Shamo; ahead lay the Sajan range and Lake Baikal. Eastward lay Karakorum, the desolate ruins of the capital of Genghis Khan. Clad in Mongol skins, bearded and haggard, Severn was scarce recognizable as a white man.
He lay in a little hollow among ancient boulders, rising ground all around. It was not a good position, but he had not chosen it. About him rose the rim of the hollow, circular horizon perhaps a quarter-mile in diameter. ”

“ Paderin’s belief that this was the old Mongol capital has been shown to be incorrect. As to the Mongolian Karakorum, it is identified by several authorities with a site on which towards the close of the 16th century the Buddhist monastery of Erdeni Tsu was built. This monastery lies about 25 m. south by east of the Uighur capital. North and north-east of the monastery are ruins of ancient buildings. ”

“ It was founded in 1235 by Okkodai, who called it Ordu Balik, or “the City of the Ordu,” otherwise “The Royal City.” Mohammedan authors say it took its name of Karákorum from the mountains to the south of it, in which the Orkhon had its source. (D’Ohsson, ii. 64.) The Chinese mention a range of mountains from which the Orkhon flows, called Wu-tê kien shan. (T’ang shu, bk. 43b.) ”

“ Karakorum, for a brief space the seat of the widest empire the world has known, has been visited; the ruins of Shang-tu, the “Xanadu of Cublay Khan,” have been explored; Pamir and Tangut have been penetrated from side to side; the famous mountain Road of Shen-si has been traversed and described; the mysterious Caindu has been unveiled; the publication of my lamented friend Lieutenant Garnier’s great work on the French Exploration of Indo-China has provided a mass of illustration of that Yun-nan for which but the other day Marco Polo was well-nigh the most recent authority. ”

“ It grows light, and the eyes survey unhindered the dreary, hilly, snow-covered land; westwards extend the plains of Ling-shi-tang; to the south-east stretches the immense Karakorum range with peaks covered with eternal snow, where thunder rolls among blue-black leaden clouds. Soon this storm also reaches us, and we are enveloped in dense, fine, dry snowflakes, while the darkness of night reigns around us. I am riding at the tail of the train. The caravan is divided into four columns. We travel in the wake of the last, which looks almost black through the mist ”

“ Near the upper Orkhon was the permanent camp of Karakorum, from the 8th century down to the end of the 13th the centre of the Mongol power, especially under the sway of Jenghiz Khan and his son Ogotai or Ogdai in the 12th and 13th centuries. ”

“ Pozdneiev, who visited the place in 1877, obligingly informs me that the square earthen wall surrounding the monastery of Erdenidsu, and measuring about an English mile in circumference, may well be the very wall of ancient Karákorum.”
Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni Tso, or Erdeni Chao, Monastery occupies the site of Karákorum, near the bank of the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old) Orkhon. ”

“ He further told me that, eight days' journey from Yarkand, on this side, large herds of yâk are met with, and that the country generally abounds with game; that the road is not so very difficult; wood scarce certainly in places, but always something, sticks, weeds, or horsedung to be got for a fire large enough to cook with. This is the information I was wanting; and my mind is now settled to cross the Karakorum range, the pass over which, he assures me, is a very easy one.
After a long and profitable visit I departed, the shikarries, who had attended me, greatly elated at the news. ”

“ I was visited by a nephew of my friend Ahmet Shah of Islamabad, who is in a similar position here to his uncle at that place, being kardar of a large pergunnah, adding to this office the important duties of government moonshi. This rencontre is fortunate as he can give me reliable information of the Karakorum road and country, and also aid me in my purchases and arrangements. As yet the caravan of merchants from Yarkand has not arrived; but they are within five or six stages of Leh. On their arrival he will make searching enquiries as to the chance of success in those regions. ”

“ But we have information of a saheb being there, who has come from Simla by the Roopschoo road.
After dinner Subhan and Mooktoo came to chat; and as we discussed the demerits of this miserable country, Subhan hinted the advantage of a trip to the Karakorum mountains on the road from Leh to Yarkand, provided we could procure authentic information of the shikar being as abundant there as travellers reported. A friend of Mooktoo, a merchant whom he met in the Wurdwan, had recommended him to take me there, assuring him that animals of several kinds were not only very abundant but tame. ”

“ It is at this palace that twice every year splendid fêtes are given, when all the nobles of the country are assembled round their sovereign.
While at Karakorum, Rubruquis collected many interesting documents relating to the Chinese, their customs, literature, &c.; then leaving the capital of the Mongols, he returned by the same route as he had come, as far as Astrakhan; but there he branched to the south and went to Syria with a Turkish escort, which was rendered necessary by the presence of tribes bent on pillage. ”

“ We intend to go through to Chanloong to-morrow—a stiff journey, with the tremendous mountain to get over, which, however, is not so bad from this side. We are all elated at the near prospects of a better land and a better climate than we have recently sojourned in. I hear a deal of good-natured banter going on around, and feel very 'koosh' myself, and have been congratulating everybody upon our having bid an eternal farewell to the Karakorum and Sassar horrors.
The Bokhara man sent for some corn. He lost three horses yesterday. ”

“ For three years he was himself governor of the great city of Yangchow, which had twenty-four towns under its jurisdiction, and was full of traders and makers of arms and military accoutrements. [20] He visited Karakorum in Mongolia, the old Tartar capital, and with his Uncle Maffeo spent three years in Tangut. On another occasion he went on a mission to Cochin China, and by sea to the southern states of India, and he has left a vivid picture of the great trading cities of Malabar. ”

“ He said that the Yarkand people would [Pg 173] never attack an European, though close to the town, or even in the streets; but if he entered a house, then they would set upon him.
The shikarries, who were listening attentively to all that was said, and occasionally joining in, became very merry at this welcome intelligence; and after Bella Shah's departure were vehement in their desire and determination to go over the Karakorum. Before leaving, Bella Shah promised to find me a man well acquainted with the road, and the places where the yâk are to be found ”

“ He was a Franciscan or Grey Friar, born in 1182, at Perugia in Italy. It is well known what inroads the Mongolians had made under Gengis-Khan, and in 1206 this chieftain had made Karakorum, an ancient Turkish town, his capital. This town was a little north of China. His successor Ojadaï, extended the Mongolian dominion into the centre of China, and, after raising an army of 600,000 men, he even invaded Europe. Russia, Georgia, Poland, Moravia, Silesia, and Hungary, all became the scenes of sanguinary conflicts which almost always ended in favour of the invaders. ”

“ In the same year Kaidu and Dua Khan entered the Uighúr country (W. and N.W. of Kamul) , with more than 100,000 men. Two years later, viz., in 1277, Kaidu and Shireghi, a son of Mangu Khan, engaged near Almalik (on the Ili) the troops of Kúblái, commanded by Numughan and ’Antung, and took both of them prisoners. The invaders then marched towards Karakorum. But Bayan, who was in Mongolia, marched to attack them, and completely defeated them in several engagements. (Gaubil, 69, 168, 182.) ”

“ In 1256, Mangu Kaan decided to transfer the seat of government to Kaipingfu, or Shangtu, near the present Dolonnor, north of Peking. (Suprà in Prologue, ch. xiii. note 1.) In 1260, Kúblái transferred his capital to Ta-Tu (Peking) .
Plano Carpini (1246) is the first Western traveller to mention it by name which he writes Caracoron; he visited the Sira Orda, at half a day’s journey from Karákorum, where Okkodai used to pass the summer; it was situated at a place Ormektua. (Rockhill, Rubruck, 21, 111.) Rubruquis (1253) visited the city itself ”

“ Rubruquis, in describing it, says: "There are two grand streets in it, one of the Saracens, where the friars are kept and many merchants resort thither, and one other street of the Catayans (Chinese) , who are all artificers." The explanation of this is, that the Tartars had already conquered the greater part of northern China, then known under the name of Cathay.
Rubruquis and his companions, who by this time had gained considerable favour in the eyes of the Khan, entered Karakorum with great distinction. He describes the city itself as not equal to the village of St. ”

“ Bretschneider (Med. Res. I. p. 114) says: “Hulagu left Karakorum, the residence of his brother, on the 2nd May, 1253, and returned to his ordo, in order to organize his army. On the 19th October of the same year, all being ready, he started for the west.” He arrived at Samarkand in September, 1255. For this chapter and the following of Polo, see: Hulagu’s Expedition to Western Asia, after the Mohammedan Authors, pp. 112–122, and the Translation of the Si Shi Ki (Ch’ang Te) , pp. ”

“ River, i. 193n Karákhitaian Empire, i. 231n —— Princes of Kerman, i. 91n Kará Khoja, i. 214n Karakorum (Caracoron) , i. 66n, 226, 227n, 269, ii. 460 Kara Kumiz, special kind of Kumiz, i. 259n Karámúren (Caramoran) River, Mongol name for the Hwang-ho, or Yellow River, i. 245n, 282n, 286n, ii. 22, 23n Karana, meaning of, i. 101n Karáni (vulgo Cranny) , i. 101n Karanút, a Mongol sept, i, 101n Ḳaraún Jidun, or Khidun, i. 101n Karaunahs (Caraonas) , a robber tribe, i. 98, 101n, 121n Karavat, an instrument for self-decollation, ii. ”

“ The population of the Kara-kum, consisting of nomad Kirghiz and Turkomans, is very small. The region in the north of the province of Syr-darya, between Lake Aral and Lake Chalkarteniz, is also called Kara-kum. ”

“ It has no drainage outlet. Little Kara-kul lies in the north-east Pamir, or Sarikol, north-west of the Mustagh-ata peak (25,850 ft.) , at an altitude of 12,700 ft. It varies in depth from 79 ft. in the south to 50 to 70 ft. in the middle, and 1000 ft. or more in the north. It is a moraine lake; and a stream of the same name flows through it, but is named Ghez in its farther course towards Kashgar in East Turkestan.
KARA-KUM (“Black Sands”) , a flat desert in Russian Central Asia. It extends to nearly 110,000 sq. ”

“ But when it is clear and still like to-night, with the moon shining as bright as day, the devil's work may very well come to naught.
"And why?" asked the miller, trembling lest the talkative Kharko should begin poking insults at him again. But this time the servant answered quietly enough:
"Well, you see, any Christian, no matter if he's stupid, like you, can call to the devil: 'Drop it! It is mine!' and Khapun will drop the Jew at once. The devil will flutter his wings, and fly away with a shrill cry like a wounded hawk, to be left without prey for a year. The Jew will fall to the ground. ”

“ The provinces appertaining to Kashmir have already been described in the article Ladak and Balti (q.v.) . The Karakoram chain, although its principal pass is 18,500 feet above sea-level, nowhere rises very high above the tableland. It constitutes a portion of the water-parting between India and Turkestan, separating the Lingzi-tang plateau, the highest in all Tibet, from the broad and open valley of Cháng-chenmo; it has been traced eastwards to the meridian of 82°, but no farther. ”

“ Here, indeed, in the trans-Indus regions of Kashmir, sterile, rugged, cold, and crowned with gigantic ice-clad peaks, there is a slippery track reaching northward into the depression of Chinese Turkestan, which for all time has been a recognised route connecting India with High Asia. It is called the Karakoram route. Mile upon mile a white thread of a road stretches across the stone-strewn plains, bordered by the bones 4 of the innumerable victims to the long fatigue of a burdensome and ill-fed existence—the ghastly debris of former caravans. ”

“ At a dozen paces from the great Karolah the vali and his followers sprang off and salaamed to the dust; and Kasim, advancing, cried out in broken Frankish: "Blessed be the day that I behold the mighty Karolah! The mountains shake at the tread of his coming; all men rejoice to see his glorious face!"
"We fail to hear them," replied Karl, dryly; and he glanced up at the silent folk on the battlements of the burg.
The edge of Kasim's green turban again swept the ground, and he answered readily: "Mute with awe, the men of Pampeluna gaze upon the mighty Sultan of the Afranj. ”

“ KAKAR, a Pathan tribe on the Zhob valley frontier of Baluchistan. The Kakars inhabit the back of the Suliman mountains between Quetta and the Gomal river; they are a very ancient race, and it is probable that they were in possession of these slopes long before the advent of Afghan or Arab. They are divided into many distinct tribes who have no connexion beyond the common name of Kakar. Not only is there no chief of the Kakars, or general jirgah (or council) of the whole tribe, but in most cases there are no recognized heads of the different clans. ”