Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab: In Ladakh and Kashmir; in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara, Volume 2J. Murray, 1841 - Asia, Central William Moorcroft (1767-1825) was a veterinary surgeon who, after maintaining a veterinary practice for a time in London, was engaged in 1807 by the East India Company to manage its breeding of horses. He arrived in India in 1808 and took charge of the company's stud operations at Pusa, Bengal. In 1811 and 1812 he undertook journeys to the northwest in search of larger and better stud horses than he was able to find in India. In July 1812 he crossed the Himalayas to become one of the first Europeans to enter Tibet by this route. By this time, his interests had expanded from the procurement of horses to include the opening of trade relations between Central Asia and Great Britain and the projection of British influence beyond the northwest of British India to counter what he saw as a growing Russian presence in the region. In May 1819 Moorcroft received permission from the East India Company to travel to Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan). He reached the city in February 1825 after a more than five-year journey that took him to Ladakh, Kashmir, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, into Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass, and through Kabul and Kunduz to his ultimate destination. He began his return journey to India in July 1825, but died of fever in Balkh, Afghanistan, on August 27. Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab is Moorcroft's account of his journey of 1819-25. It was posthumously edited and published by Horace Wilson, professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford and a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, based on Moorcroft's voluminous notebooks and correspondence. Volume one is devoted entirely to Moorcroft's journey to and residence in Ladakh. Volume two completes the account of Moorcroft's time in Ladakh and recounts his journey to Kashmir, Kabul, and Bukhara. The book contains a detailed map of Central Asia compiled and drawn by the London mapmaker John Arrowsmith, based mainly on the field notes of George Trebeck, a young Englishman who accompanied Moorcroft on the journey and who recorded geographical details measured in paces combined with compass bearings. |
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Common terms and phrases
Afghan Aibek amongst ascended Baba Beg Badakhshan Balkh Bamian bazar Behut boats Bokhara breadth broad called canal cattle chief cloth colour crossed cultivated Dewan distance district Dras Dras river edge eight encamped feet five flowers foot formed four Gilgit Gonh ground half Hasora hills Hindu Hindustan horses houses hundred inches joined journey Kabul Kartse Kash Kashmir Kashmirians Khaja Khalun Khan Khulm Kunduz Ladakh lake latter left bank Malik matchlocks miles Mohammed Mohammedans mountains Murad Beg narrow Panchal party pass persons Peshawar Pirzada plain prangos Pushkyum racter Raja Ranjit Sinh rice right bank river rivulet road rock ruins rupees Shah shawl sheep side Sikhs Sindh snow stone stream tains Talikan Tash Kurghan Tibet tion town Trebeck trees twenty twisted Ullah Uzbek valley village wall whilst whole wool Yar Mohammed yards Yarkand yarn
Popular passages
Page 138 - ... plants are torn off from the bottom, and carried in the boat to the platform, where the weeds are twisted into conical mounds about two feet in diameter at their base, and of the same height, terminating at the...
Page 157 - That end of the cylinder nearest to the apartment is closed by a round platter of red pottery ware, a little convex in the middle, but the edges are made flush with the wall by a luting of clay-mortar, and the other extremity is shut by a similar dish, having a circular hole, about a third of an inch in diameter, in its centre.
Page 148 - ... for four pice, or two-pence. The country people break the walnuts at home, and carry the kernel alone to market, where it is sold to oil-pressers, at the average .rate of seven rupees per khurwar, or ass-load.
Page 138 - ... in its descent, gradually sinks into the mass of matted roots. The bed floats, but is kept in its place by a stake of willow driven through it at each end, which admits of its rising and falling in accommodation to the rise or fall of the water.
Page 123 - The population of the city of Kashmir, although much diminished, must be numerous. One hundred and twenty thousand persons, it is said, are employed in the shawl manufacture alone ; and although this is the chief employment of the population, yet the other trades and occupations essential to the support of a large city must, at least, double the amount: the population of the Province is estimated at eight hundred thousand.* Everywhere, however, the people are in the most abject condition — exorbitantly...
Page 319 - ... sanctified by a miracle wrought there by Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith. Nanak, coming to the place fatigued and thirsty, thought he had a claim upon the hospitality of his brother ascetic, and invoked the spirit of Baba Wali for a cup of water. The Muhammadan saint, indignant at the presumption of an unbeliever, replied to his application by throwing a stone at him of several tons weight. Nanak caught the missile in his hand, and then placed it on the ground, leaving the impression of...
Page 119 - ... each side by a border of mire. The houses are in general two or three stories high ; they are built of unburnt bricks and timber, the former serving for little else than to fill up the interstices of the latter. They are not plastered, are badly constructed, and are mostly in a neglected and ruinous condition, with broken doors or no doors at all, with shattered lattices, windows stopped up with boards, paper, or rags, walls out of the perpendicular, and pitched roofs threatening to fall.
Page 142 - The fruit is seldom if ever pulled in the small, or girkin state, and differs in weight, when of a proper age for the market, from about eight or ten ounces to a pound and a quarter, or a pound and a half. From the first setting of the fruit to' the time of pulling, seven or eight days are the ordinary period.
Page 161 - ... articles of common food, whilst the most wealthy substitute it for sugar in preserving fruits. It is customary to take the hive every year, and the end of September or beginning of October is found the best season for this operation ; a little time still remaining for the bees to add to the portion left for their support during five months. This amounts to about...
Page 138 - ... plants just mentioned, about two feet under the water, so that they completely lose all connexion with the bottom of the lake, but retain their former situation in respect to each other. When thus detached from the soil, they are pressed into somewhat closer contact, and formed into beds of about two yards breadth, and of an indefinite length.