THE winter was passed in the festivities and enjoyments, above
described. ...! 'The Khán's mind had always been occupied
with plans for making a holy war [ghazát] and after much
thought he finally decided [whom he should attack]. Between
Khotan and Khitái there was a race of infidels called Sárigh
Uighur, and upon these people he proceeded to make a holy war.
It is a twelve days' journey from Yárkand to Khotan, and most of
the stages are without cultivation or inhabitants. When the
Khán reached Khotan, a change in his health became evident.
The holy war is one of the supports of Islám and a plenary
duty. The Khán desired to discharge this obligation towards the
faith; but now that his health failed him, he was obliged to
appoint certain Amirs to perform the duty for him, and having
thus relieved himself of this necessity, he returned [to Yárkand].
On the homeward journey, cups of wine were brought every
morning, and drinking went on all through the day, so that [the
Khán. and his companions] were generally unable to distinguish
the light from the darkness. At the end of a few days they
A5discs Yárkand. In the autumn of that year, the expedition
against the Kirghiz took place.
Those Amirs who had been sent against the Sárigh Uighur, after
spending two months in the plains between Khotan and Khitái,


! Here are omitted ten lines of florid description, regarding the effects of spring
upon nature.
EC : | The Kirghig Camipazgn. |. M9
J feturned in safety, laden with plunder, but without having seen
. 0r heard anything of the infidels.'


!
NAA.
CHAPTER LXI.
» "THE KIRGHIZ CAMPAIGN AND THE CAPTURE OF MUHAMMAD KIRGHIZ.
