ONE of the obligations I have imposed on myself in writing this Epitome [mukhtasar] is, that what I have heard from other people and on good authority, I would briefly rehearse, when it was of importance; but what I have not witnessed myself, I would not dwell on too long, for fear of exaggeration, which I desire to avoid. But what I have witnessed or taken part in, that I have written as personal experience. I have divided the strange life, the evil deeds, and the depraved conduct of Mirzá Abá Bakr into three sections. Firstly, what I have heard from others and from trust­worthy reports: this I have stated briefly; secondly, what I have myself seen or heard [directly], but which I could not bring myself to relate; and thirdly, what I have myself witnessed, and have written down in this Epitome. But this is only as one in a thousand incidents—a little out of many—a long story cut short.

Heaven forbid that any reader of these pages should accuse me of exaggeration or of slander. If I had deemed it permissible to depass the limits [of truth] in any way, I should not have said anything about Mirzá Abá Bakr, for he was my uncle. But if I were to omit his history, all other facts connected with him would be obscure and incomprehensible. It is my duty both to shun exaggeration and to avoid omissions. The truth is that for more than forty years Mirzá Abá Bakr ruled supreme. Towards the end of his life, the spirit of tyranny so mastered his nature, that if an offence was committed against him, though the offender might not be liable to any sentence according to the law, yet his evil heart was not satisfied with killing him once, but desired the death of the sinless sinner, a thousand times over.

If any one had, in the slightest degree, opposed him, and he only heard of it ten years after, he was sure to punish, not only the offender, but likewise his children, relations, connections, and dependants. On this account, his subjects grew so submissive to his government, that nobody dared dream of acting contrary to his orders. When he had brought his authority to the point of complete supremacy in all things, he made such a collection of wealth, in treasure, property, mules and cattle, as surpasses all reckoning.

He used to set culprits to work, involving difficulty which was proportionate to the gravity of their offence; he arranged for the separate employment of men and women, but he got some work out of everybody. [For instance] he ordered the old cities [known as] Kázik* to be excavated by these [prisoners], and the earth dug from them to be washed. If there were anything big, they would come upon it in digging, while anything small [such as gems] they would find when they washed [the earth]. In this way, innumerable treasures in precious stones, gold and silver, were discovered. I have heard some of his confidants say that a treasure was found in the citadel of Khotan.* There were twenty-seven jars [khum] of such a size that a man, with a quiver on, could get inside them, without stooping or bending [and without touching it on any side]. Inside each of these jars was a copper ewer [áftába-i-mis]. One of these ewers fell into my possession. It is a sort of flask [surahi] with a long narrow neck, to which is fixed a rough iron handle. In the centre of the ewer is a copper spout, the nose of which is on a level with [barábar] the mouth of the ewer. The height of it is, at a guess, over one and a half gaz.* When filled with water, two persons had great difficulty in lifting it, and they could not carry it from one place to another. Inside each of the jars was placed one of these ewers, filled with gold dust, and outside [the ewers] the space was filled with bálish of silver. In historical works, such as the Jahán-Kushái, the Jami-ut-Tavárikh , and others, a bálish is thus described: “A bálish is 500 mithkál [of silver], made into a long brick with a depression in the middle.”* I had [at that time] only heard the name [and had never seen one myself, but had read the description in these books]. These bálish had been placed outside the ewers, but inside the jars. Many of them were brought, just as they were, to the treasury, which fell into the hands of the Khán's army [when Sultán Said Khán conquered Yarkand]. I myself possessed some of them. Thus [subsequently] I saw the bálish [and found them correspond to the description I had seen in books].

One of the most singular things that I heard from those who had worked at the Kázik was this: In every one of the ewers was a letter written in Turki, which read: [“This treasure was pre­pared for the expenses of the ceremony of circumcision of the son of the Khátun called Khamár.”] But no one could discover who this Khamár Khátun was, nor when she had lived, nor how. How strange that in spite of witnessing such examples, man is not restrained in his lusts, desires, and vain fancies!

After the discovery of this treasure, Mirzá Abá Bakr urged forward the men employed at the Kázik, to work with greater diligence and care than before, and several other treasures were brought to light in the old cities of Káshghar, Yarkand, and Khotan. The mode of operations at the Kázik was as follows: eighteen or twenty prisoners, more or less, were secured together by a chain running from one to the other, at their backs, through a collar fastened round the neck of each. In their hands they carried spades [kaland].* They laboured both summer and winter. [During the day they worked] and at night they were put into a prison. If the prisoner's offence was very grave, neither friends, relations, nor strangers were allowed to speak to him or give him anything. So that not even one of the same gang [chain] as him­self was able to tell him a story. There was an overseer to every gang, and over every eighteen of the overseers was another person, and there was one man at the head of the whole of the Kázik. If any one of these overseers, whether superior or inferior, in the slightest degree neglected his duty with regard to the convicts, as in flogging, commanding, urging them on, or throwing them into prison, and the like, he was himself consigned to a gang of con­victs. Moreover, such was the strictness of discipline, that the overseers never dared to show any leniency. In fact, they could never speak a word, except officially.

Those who were confined for lesser offences, were allowed to see a relation or friend once a week; and in like manner, there were many different gradations for individual cases, from which [favours], however, not the slightest deviation, in the way of enhancement, could be made, without authorisation. [Separate] work was found for the men and the women. The above is only one example, out of many, of Mirzá Abá Bakr's cruelties. Many more instances might be mentioned, but they would disgust the reader, and the mind shrinks from narrating them.

It has been related above, that Sháh Begum, Mihr Nigár Khánim, my brother Muhammad Sháh, and the maternal sister of my father (who was the full sister of Mirzá Abá Bakr), when they were coming from Kábul, on their way to Badakhshán, were captured by the army of Mirzá Abá Bakr. The Mirzá brought them to Káshghar. His sister, Khán Sultán Sultánim, was a very pious woman, and had spent all her life in acts of religious devotion. For a long time he allowed her no food but wine, and when she was brought to the point of death by hunger and thirst, she was made by force to drink some of that [wine], so that she died in torture and suffering, all the same.*

He kept my brother, Muhammad Sháh, up till the age of fifteen years among his eunuchs [ghulám-i-akhta]. When [my brother] reached this age [the Mirzá] ordered a roasting-spit to be thrust into his stomach, then to be driven through with a hammer, so as to come out at his back, and impale him against a wall; thus nailed to the wall, he was left [to die in agony]. From these examples, one may judge of his treatment of his nephews and nieces, and of those two noble women, the Begum and the Khánim. On consideration, I have decided to withhold my pen from further details, for I do not wish the honourable mind of the reader of this Epitome to be clouded by the darkness of that black nature; I will therefore not detain him longer on this subject.

In spite of all these [barbarities] Mirzá Abá Bakr affected great piety, and was given over to good works, charity, and almsgiving to such an extent, that he never rested from these matters; while Mullas and doctors of the law were continually in his assemblies. In all his affairs and actions he relied upon a fatwá; he even pro­cured fatwá for the most atrocious of his deeds.* If the Ulama granted the fatwá, well and good; if they refused it, he would accuse the Mufti, find him guilty and sentence him to death, but would pretend to show him mercy, saying: “He ought, according to the law, to die, but owing to my regard for him, I will remit the sentence of death, and will give him some work to do instead.” But the work he gave him was far worse than death. Among the fatwá he demanded were the two following.

If Amr attack Zaid with the intention of killing him, Zaid does all he can against Amr in self-defence, and according to the law is justified.*

Again, if Khálid* be one who excites sedition and carries his evil intentions to another kingdom, in order to stir up rebellion in his own, the governor of his own country does all he can to prevent Khálid from going to another country, lest he may become a source of distress to his own people; and in so doing is justified by the law.

On the strength of these two fatwá, Mirza Abá Bakr put to death 3000 of the men of Jágirák, Uzkand, and Mádu, who had designs upon his life. And he cut off the feet of several thousands of others, with the excuse that: “if these men run away to another country, they will stir up revolt [against me]; in this manner I will keep them within my own kingdom, that they may not escape.” Such were his acts of cruelty. [In this book] there is no place for a further record of them. Haply they are contained in the book of the Most Merciful of Scribes. On this account, I will now close the description of these repulsive matters.

The rest of Mirzá Abá Bakr's reign will be related presently.