228.)
So Correa calls a golden idol, which was taken by Da Gama in a ship of
Calicut, "an image of Mahomed" (372). Don Quixote too, who ought to have
known better, cites with admiration the feat of Rinaldo in carrying off,
in spite of forty Moors, a golden image of Mahomed.
NOTE 3. - 800 li (160 miles) east of Chokiuka or Yarkand, Hiuen Tsang
comes to Kiustanna (Kustana) or KHOTAN. "The country chiefly consists of
plains covered with stones and sand. The remainder, however, is favourable
to agriculture, and produces everything abundantly. From this country are
got woollen carpets, fine felts, well woven taffetas, white and black
jade." Chinese authors of the 10th century speak of the abundant grapes
and excellent wine of Khotan.
Chinese annals of the 7th and 8th centuries tell us that the people of
Khotan had chronicles of their own, a glimpse of a lost branch of history.
Their writing, laws, and literature were modelled upon those of India.
Ilchi, the modern capital, was visited by Mr. Johnson, of the Indian
Survey, in 1865. The country, after the revolt against the Chinese in
1863, came first under the rule of Habib-ullah, an aged chief calling
himself Khan Badshah of Khotan; and since the treacherous seizure and
murder of Habib-ullah by Ya'kub Beg of Kashgar in January 1867, it has
formed a part of the kingdom of the latter.
