The Rashīdī History 8.6.5

8.6.5

Mirza Haidar, writing in the sixteenth century, makes no mention of Tarsa, or even of Uighurs generally, as being the inhabitants of Eastern Turkistan, and it may be inferred that, by his time, the bulk of the people having become Musulmans, had ceased to be distinguished by their race-name of Uighur. He speaks only of the 'Sarigh,' or 'Yellow,' Uighurs, who appear to have been a small community occupying a territory to the east, or north-east, of Khotan, and to have been, according to his view, idolaters. These may quite possibly have been merely a section of the original inhabitants who had retained their old religion—Christianity or Buddhism—and had found a refuge from the converting Musulmans in the secluded region bordering on the eastern desert. In this case they would have been Turks, like the rest of the population, in race and language.