[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Kashmir](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir) › [Tārīkh-i Rashīdī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi) › [The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross) › 155.1.4 # The Rashīdī History 155.1.4 The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross) 155.1.4 - **Language:** English ### [155.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.155.1.4) To the east and south of Kashghar and Khotan are deserts, which consist of nothing but heaps of shifting sands, impenetrable jungles, waste lands and salt-deserts. In ancient times there were large towns in these \[wastes\], and the names of two of them have been preserved, namely Lob and Katak; but of the rest no name or trace remains: all are buried under the sand. Hunters, who go there after wild camels, relate that sometimes the foundations of cities are visible, and that they have recognised noble buildings such as castles, minarets, mosques and colleges, but that when they returned a short time afterwards, no trace of these was to be found; for the sand had again overwhelmed them. On such a scale were these cities of which, nowadays, neither name nor vestige remains! In a word, the habitable districts of Kashghar and Khotan lie along the western skirts of these mountains. On the frontier of Kashghar is the district of Artuj; from there to the confines of Khotan, at Kariya and Jariya, is one month's journey. But as for the breadth of fertility of the cultivated region (from the foot of the western range to the eastward) by travelling quickly one can leave all cultivation behind in a day or two. On the banks of every stream that comes down from that range, corn is sown and the land is cultivated. The first of these is the River Tuman, which comes from a mountain standing between Kashghar and Farghana. - [Previous: 155.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.155.1.3) - [Next: 155.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.155.1.5) - [Up: 155.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.155.1) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.155.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.155.1.4) · Pramāṇa