The Rashīdī History 155.1.6

155.1.6

It has both cultivated grounds and gardens [baghat] which all form a part of the foundation [vakf] of this "langar." Travellers enjoy the advantages which the "langar" offers. The next stage is a village called Kizil. The water there is brackish, and nobody stops there who is not obliged to. It is considered the halfway stage between Yangi-Hisar and Yarkand. It is about ten farsakhs from Kizil to Kuk Babat, and from Kuk Babat to the edge of the district of Yarkand, which is called Babatchi, is by measurement seven statute farsakhs. Between Babatchi and Kara Chanak there is but little inhabited country, except for the stages that have been mentioned. Yarkand was formerly a very important city. The old town was dug out by Mirza Aba Bakr; it was among the excavations [kazikha] which we have spoken about, and much treasure was found [in it]. It is not known whether the old town was called Yarkand, or whether it had another name. In the days of my ancestors, Yarkand was a companion city to Yangi-Hisar. Mirza Aba Bakr made Yarkand his capital. He introduced streams [into the town] and laid out gardens; and it is generally reported that these numbered 12,000, most of which were in the city and its environs. But I cannot imagine that this figure is correct. Mirza Aba Bakr built a citadel which, in most places, is thirty statute gaz in height. The inside of the citadel is roughly about a hundred tanab, and in it has been built a very high fort [ark].