102 



CENTRAL ASIA. 



Kultscha. After this, there "was, of course, 

 no alternative left the Sultan but uncondition- 

 al surrender. The official report of General 

 Kolpakovsky to the Czar gives the following 

 accoant of the surrender: "After the battle 

 at Suding, the Sultan of Kultscha sent to me 

 with a request that I would permit him to 

 come in person to my camp. At the same 

 time he surrendered to me the fugitive Kir- 

 gheez, Lieutenant Tasa Beg, whose flight with 

 a thousand men to the Tarandshis territory had 

 given occasion for the campaign. Toward 

 evening, the Sultan, Abil Oglan, attended by 

 several of his nobles, came into our camp. He 

 declared himself alone responsible for every 

 thing, and surrendered unconditionally to the 

 Russian Government, asking pardon for his 

 followers, and promising that he and his wife 

 would implicitly obey our commands. I re- 

 plied that it was the will of the Russian Em- 

 peror that our troops occupy Kultscha; for 

 the rest, I assured him that we would not dis- 

 turb his private property, and would give him 

 liberty to choose where he would reside. Our 

 forces immediately set out for Kultscha, and 

 were everywhere received by the people with 

 a spirit of entire submission. On reaching 

 Kultscha, our camp was established in the 

 gardens around the fort. I rode around the 

 works, the Sultan having given me the keys to 

 the gates and to all the store-houses. In the 

 citadel we found provisions of all kinds, 250 

 head of cattle, and 6,000 measures of wheat 

 and barley. Deputations of Tarandshis, Kir- 

 gheez, and Calmucks, are continually coming in 

 from distant parts of the country to announce 

 their unconditional submission." It is not 

 likely that the subsistence stores of the Rus- 

 sian army will be greatly increased by the ac- 

 quisition of the Kultscha district. The whole 

 region had been already stripped by the Chi- 

 nese, and had suffered during the later dis- 

 turbances to such a degree that its possession 

 is now of less economical than political and 

 strategical value. It is hard to over-estimate 

 its importance in the last respect. "We cannot 

 as yet prognosticate how far the Russians will 

 push their conquests in the East. They are 

 now in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 Soongarians, and not far from their capital, 

 Keer-Kara-Oosoo, and may, if the Chinese Em- 

 peror calls upon the Czar for further assist- 

 ance, by accomplishing the conquest of this 

 rebellious people, bring themselves to the edge 

 of the Desert of Gobi, and add to their posses- 

 sions, at one stroke, a territory extending 

 through twelve degrees of longitude and 

 about six degrees of latitude. 



While these enlargements of the boundaries 

 are of great importance with reference to the 

 plans for the future toward China, they have 

 a much greater bearing upon the attitude of 

 the Russians to their British rivals in Central 

 Asia. By the incorporation of Soongaria the 

 court of St. Petersburg gains possession of 

 that valley district through which lie the most 



convenient and the most used roads over the 

 Muzart Hills to East Toorkistan, namely, the 

 road going southwest toward Aksoo, and the 

 one that extends southeastwardly toward 

 Kultscha. Till this time, while the principal 

 road to Toorkistan through the Terek Pass led 

 through the territory of Khokan, it was cus- 

 tomary to use courteous language in dealing 

 with Yakoob Khan. Now, when it can bring 

 its power to bear upon him at any time by 

 the roads we have mentioned, the court of 

 St. Petersburg will be apt to demean itself 

 very differently toward this troublesome chief. 

 The Russians are in a position to occupy Kash- 

 gar at their pleasure. The new acquisitions 

 have nothing in common with the Russian 

 conquests in the western part of Central Asia. 

 Since East Toorkistan has been separated dur- 

 ing a hundred and fifty years of Chinese rule 

 from the three Toorkoman states of the oases, 

 Soongaria has become a complete terra in- 

 cognita to the Mohammedans of the Oxus and 

 the Jaxartes, even of the existence of which 

 they know nothing. Moreover, no extraneous 

 influences are needed to preserve quiet among 

 the western tribes; for during the last two 

 years they have been completely subjected, and 

 their social and political life has been adjusted 

 to the Russian ways to such an extent that the 

 government at St. Petersburg could not reason- 

 ably have wished for better results in so short 

 a time. Khuda Yarkhan at Khokan, happy to 

 live at ease under the Russian flag, pays his 

 tribute punctually. Muzaffarreddin Khan, 

 Prince of Bokhara, likewise accepts his fate 

 and sets himself at ease. The last spark of 

 revolutionary fire appears to be extinguished 

 from the heart of this once formidable leader, 

 who used to style himself " Prince of all the 

 Faithful," and of his fanatic mollahs. 



The Russians report that they have estab- 

 lished a journal at Tashkend, for circulation 

 among the Kirgheez. This is a matter of small 

 importance, for few of the Kirgheez can read, 

 and those who can will likely continue to 

 give more attention to the sacred books of the 

 Mohammedans than to the views of the Rus- 

 sian unbelievers. It was reported in the spring 

 of 1871 that the Russians were about to send 

 a force against the ruler of Kharsam to punish 

 him for a breach of faith. He is not in a con- 

 dition to make an effective resistance. The 

 Russians say also that it is only the revolt of a 

 small clan of Kirgheez that prevents them from 

 accomplishing the annexation of Khiva. These 

 Kirgheez rebels, at whose head, according to 

 the Russian accounts, is a certain Sadik, con- 

 sist of not more than three hundred families 

 of nomads who wander around on the left 

 bank of the lower Oxus, refusing to pay trib- 

 ute either to the Czar or to the Khan of Khiva. 

 The old men of this group are accustomed, when 

 they become weary of their wandering life, 

 to make some arrangements with the chiefs 

 of Khiva. They will pay a third or a half 

 of the regular tribute, and obtain permission 



