The City Is Still
An Important Mart And A Centre Of Lamaitic Buddhism, Being The Residence Of
A Khutukhtu, Or Personage Combining The Characters Of Cardinal And
Voluntarily Re-Incarnate Saint, As Well As The Site Of Five Great Convents
And Fifteen Smaller Ones.
Gerbillon notes that Kuku Khotan had been a place
of great trade and population during the Mongol Dynasty.
[The following evidence shows, I think, that we must look for the city of
Tenduc to Tou Ch'eng or Toto Ch'eng, called Togto or Tokto by the
Mongols. Mr. Rockhill (Diary, 18) passed through this place, and 5 li
south of it, reached on the Yellow River, Ho-k'ou (in Chinese) or Dugus or
Dugei (in Mongol). Gerbillon speaks of Toto in his sixth voyage in
Tartary. (Du Halde, IV. 345.) Mr. Rockhill adds that he cannot but think
that Yule overlooked the existence of Togto when he identified Kwei-hwa
Ch'eng with Tenduc. Tou Ch'eng is two days' march west of Kwei-hwa Ch'eng,
"On the loess hill behind this place are the ruins of a large camp,
Orch'eng, in all likelihood the site of the old town" (l.c. 18). M. Bonin
(J. As. XV. 1900, 589) shares Mr. Rockhill's opinion. From Kwei-hwa
Ch'eng, M. Bonin went by the valley of the Hei Shui River to the Hwang Ho;
at the junction of the two rivers stands the village of Ho-k'au (Ho-k'ou)
south of the small town To Ch'eng, surmounted by the ruins of the old
square Mongol stronghold of Tokto, the walls of which are still in a good
state of preservation.
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