438 



KASHGAR. 



rent, or sell landed property, houses, or depots 

 for goods, in the territory of the Ameer, and 

 these buildings cannot be forcibly entered ex- 

 cept after an understanding with the British 

 representative, or his agents or his delegates. 

 Civil and criminal suits between a British sub- 

 ject and a subject of the Ameer will be de- 

 cided by a court of the Ameer, but in the pres- 

 ence of the English representative. If one of the 

 two parties is a British subject, and the other 

 the subject of another power, the cases will be 

 decided by the courts of the Ameer, if both 

 parties are of the Mohammedan faith ; but if 

 neither is a Mohammedan, the case will be 

 decided by the British representative, if both 

 parties agree ; and, by the court of the Ameer, 

 if the parties do not agree. If the British 

 representative believes that justice has not 

 been done in a particular case, he may bring 

 the case to the notice of the Ameer, in order 

 that it may be investigated by another court 

 in the presence of the British representative or 

 his agent. The privileges granted to British 

 subjects are extended to the subjects of all the 

 princes of India who are allies of the Queen 

 of England. In a letter addressed to a friend 

 in England, dated Kashgar, Mr. Forsyth gives 

 the following account of the country and "of 

 its ruler Yakub Khan : 



So little is known about these regions, and such 

 wild stories have been told about the people and 

 their ruler, that you may be surprised to hear that 

 we find a degree of civilization much superior to any 

 thing in India which is not directly owing to our 

 presence there ; and there is a blessed state of secu- 

 rity to both life and property here which people in 

 England might envy. We have been allowed the 

 most perfect freedom of action and motion, and go 

 about freely when and where we like. Being thus 

 able to mix with the peasants, and to see them oc- 

 cupied in their ordinary avocations, we can form a 

 tolerably correct opinion regarding the character of 

 the Ameer's rule. Yakub Khan is a very remark- 

 able man. and owes his success entirely to his own 

 personal qualities. He is a thorough autocrat, and 

 allows no one to interfere with his authority. He 

 looks into every thing himself, even seeing his troops 

 paid in his presence ; and he keeps all his subor- 

 dinates in first-rate order, punishing disobedience 

 most severely. These people are naturally in great 

 awe of him, and the Hindostani or Afghans who 

 came over and took service, hoping to enrich them- 

 selves by plunder, are considerably disgusted to find 

 the peasantry protected from their grasp by the 

 Ameer. From this class of officials stories of the 

 Ameer's severity are only to be expected ; but in- 

 stead of sympathizing with them I take it as a good 

 sign of the healthy vigor of the Ameer's adminis- 

 tration. Certainly the common people have cause 

 to rejoice ; and we find the' markets, which are held 

 here at one place or another every day in the week, 

 thronged by merry-faced men and women, who buy 

 and barter just as if it was a market in England. 

 Food is abundant, and even the poorest classes 

 seem to have meat, and are warmly clad. Theft is a 

 crime of rare occurrence, and murders are almost 

 unknown. We have not seen much of the country 

 yet, however, owing to the intense cold ; but when 

 winter-ceases I hope to make an extended journey. 

 We must visit Khoten, as that is a place of note. 

 Jade comes from the rivers which flow by that town, 

 and silk manufactures are carried on. Cotton fab- 

 rics, too, come thence, and are exported largely to 



Khokan and into Russian territory. The Eussians 

 have already established treaty relations with the 

 Ameer, and drive a thriving trade with the Kasli- 

 garees. None of their merchants are here at pres- 

 ent, but Eussian goods are to be seen everywhere. 

 We find on opening the packets, with Russian names 

 outside, that in many cases the goods themselves 

 have English marks. Comparing prices, there is no 

 doubt that English goods sent through India can 

 be sold at a lower figure, with profits, than the same 

 articles fetch brought through Eussia ; but as it is 

 evident that, whether by the East or the West route, 

 our goods do find their way here, there is no neces- 

 sity for us to adopt other than a liberal policy tow- 

 ard Eussia. I have an admirable staff of officers, 

 who are making a very valuable collection of infor- 

 mation of all kinds, so that my own deficiencies in 

 this respect will not be noticed, I hope. 



After the conclusion of this treaty, Mr. 

 Forsyth remained for some time in Kashgar. 

 The permission of the Ameer was obtained 

 for undertaking important expeditions of ex- 

 ploration. The greatest feat connected with 

 these expeditions seems to be that which was 

 performed by Colonel Gordon and his party. 

 "When Mr. Forsyth was preparing to return, 

 at the close of the sojourn in Yarkand, ar- 

 rangements were made with the authorities 

 for a journey to the Great Pamir Steppe. 

 This journey was undertaken by Colonel Gor- 

 don, Captain Biddulph, Captain Trotter, and 

 Dr. Stoliczka ; and some idea of the difficulty 

 of the journey may be formed when it is said 

 that this party had to march for twenty days, 

 in deep snow, distances of twenty and twenty- 

 five miles a day. But the journey was suc- 

 cessfully performed ; and the Government of 

 India expressed its thanks to these officers in- 

 dividually for the work accomplished by them. 

 The Government of British India attached 

 great importance to the result of these explo- 

 rations, as its knowledge of Central Asia was 

 greatly improved by it. Mr. Forsyth as well 

 as Colonel Gordon returned to British India in 

 July. The Government of India appointed, as 

 the first British representative in Kashgar, Mr. 

 Shaw, who had previously visited the court of 

 the 'Ameer, and after his return published a 

 work on his mission, which is still the standard 

 authority on this country. 



The negotiations of Russia with Kashgar 

 have been kept very secret. A commercial 

 treaty between the two countries had been 

 concluded in 1872. Subsequently, the rela- 

 tions between, them were reported to be less 

 friendly, as the Russians publicly maintained 

 that Russian caravans had been plundered by 

 the Kashgarians. According to English ac- 

 counts, Yakub Beg, after instituting a full in- 

 quiry into the allegations, claimed to have as- 

 certained that these statements were mere 

 inventions on the part of the leaders of the 

 caravans, who had themselves stolen the money 

 and goods of their employers, and then attrib- 

 .uted the loss to imaginary Kashgarian robbers. 

 All the documents on the subject were for- 

 warded to Tashkend, and Yakub Beg at the 

 same time notified the Russian Government 

 that, although it was clear that the Kashga- 



