420 



KHOKAN. 



KINGSLEY, CHARLES. 



Pendekent, in the direction of Garm, the capi- 

 tal of Muhamed Eachim Shah, ruler of Kara- 

 teghin. Garm is situated about 150 miles 

 south of Khokan, and as many north of Feiza- 

 bad, in Badakshan. Garm and the whole 

 country of Karateghin in the British Govern- 

 ment maps appear as Afghan territory, though 

 the Russians regard Muhamed Rachim as a 

 vassal of Bokhara. The inhabitants of this 

 mountainous region were stated to have made 

 an attempt to attack Russian territory during 

 the late Khokan rebellion ; it was only owing 

 to the fidelity of the Upper Zarafshan Valley 

 tribes that the Karateghin people were pre- 

 vented from penetrating across the hills to 

 Uratube, and it was to protect the Matcha or 

 Upper Zarafshan Valley that the present ex- 

 pedition was undertaken. General von Kauf- 

 mann was presented by the Czar with a gold- 

 en sword, bearing the inscription, " For the 

 defeat of the Khokanders." 



In October the troops were compelled to 

 storm the town of Undidsham, where Abdur- 

 rhaman, conjointly with Palad Khan, the chief- 

 tain of the Kirgheez, had collected a force of 

 some 80,000 men. The fighting on the walls and 

 in the streets is described as most severe. Two 

 guns were captured from the insurgents, and 

 the place was then set on fire. In the various 

 engagements that took place the loss of the 

 Russians was twelve men killed, and five offi- 

 cers and forty soldiers wounded. The loss of 

 the enemy was said to have been very heavy. 



Though the Russian Government was willing 

 to recognize Khan Sacle as ruler of a part of 

 Khokan, it deemed it best to annex part of 

 the khanate to the Russian^ dominions. The 

 following order, dated November 6th, was 

 addressed to the Russian troops in Khokan: 

 "The territory on the right bank of the Syr- 

 Daria, from the Russian frontier to the river 

 Nareen, hitherto belonging to Khokan, is an- 

 nexed to Russia." The capital of the new 

 Russian territory is Namanghan. A dispatch 

 from Tashkend, dated November 21st, stated 

 that, after General Kaufmann had left Naman- 

 ghan for Khojend, the Kiptchaks rebelled and 

 surprised the former town. They invested the 

 citadel and the Russian camp. The Russians 

 resisted successfully for three days, when Gen- 

 eral Skobeleff returned and attacked the Kip- 

 tchaks, who fled, leaving 3,800 dead on the 

 field. 



Notwithstanding their recent defeat at Na- 

 manghan, the Kiptchaks assembled on the left 

 banks of the Nareen and Syr-Daria Rivers in 

 large numbers. Their headquarters were at 

 Balyktschi, where they had concentrated to the 

 number of 20,000. The Russians, under Gen- 

 eral Skobeleff, attacked the town on November 

 24th. The Kiptchaks were defeated with im- 

 mense loss. The Russian troops, after their vic- 

 tory, returned to Namanghan. 



On December 22d, the Imalide Russe stated 

 that emissaries from Khokan had incited the 

 tribes subject to Russia in the neighborhood of 



Urapete, Toorkistan, to revolt. The Russian 

 troops attacked them, and were at first re- 

 pulsed, but subsequently obtained a victory: 

 300 insurgents were killed in one engagement, 

 and the insurrection was regarded as extinct. 



A few months before the annexation of a part 

 of Khokan to Russia, Sir H. Rawlinson, in his 

 new book, " England and Russia in the East " 

 (London, 1875), represented the relations be- 

 tween Khokan and Russia as follows : 



In Khokan the prospect is better, inasmuch as 

 the inhabitants generally are neither so fanatical nor 

 so warlike, while the upper valley of the Jaxartes, 

 studded with populous and important cities, is far 

 better able to repay the expenses of occupation. Even 

 in that quarter, however, Kussia is not yet prepared 

 for intervention. If she had troops available to gar- 

 rison the large towns of Khokan ; Namanghan, An- 

 digan, Oosh, and Marghilan, it is incredible that 

 she should have resisted the temptation to enter in 

 and take possession, which was afforded in the recent 

 civil war between the Kirgheez and Kiptchak parties, 

 when either side invited ner interference, and would 

 have willingly submitted to her rule. For the mo- 

 ment it is believed that Khudayar Khan has silenced 

 his opponents, and that he will thus be allowed to 

 continue in power, acting, when necessary, as a lever 

 against Amir Yakub, in virtue of the old money 

 claims of Khokan upon Kashgar, until railways and 

 steam-vessels have brought the military resources 

 of European Kussia into the heart of Toorkistan, and 

 have thus rendered the annexation of the whole 

 province a mere question of administrative expedi- 

 ency. But even with all the impulsive force of civ- 

 ilization, and all the appliances of modern warfare, 

 which may thus be brought to bear on the position, 

 it is not clear that Kussia, although she may be in 

 complete possession of the Jaxartes Valley, will be 

 able to realize her sway over the southern depend- 

 encies of Khokan, any more than over the mountain- 

 ranges of Bokhara. It is far more likely that for long 

 years Kulab, Darwar, and Karategin, will be virtually 

 independent, and that, whatever may happen to the 

 westward, we shall thus, at any rate, escape the in- 

 convenience of direct Kussian contact with Afghan 

 territory along the borders of Badakhshan and Wa- 

 khan. 



KINGSLEY, CHARLES, a canon of the Church 

 of England, born at Dartmoor, Devon, June 12, 

 1819 ; died January 23, 1875. He received his 

 first education at home, was afterward sent to 

 King's College, London, and from there went 

 to Magdalen College, Cambridge. After first 

 studying for the bar, he entered the Church, 

 and became curate, and afterward rector of 

 Eversley, in Hampshire. In 1859 he was ap- 

 pointed Professor of Modern History in Cam- 

 bridge, Canon of Chester in 1869, and after- 

 ward of Westminster, and chaplain to the 

 Queen. In 1872 he became the editor of 

 Good Words, and in the winter of 1873-74 

 he made a lecturing tour through the United 

 States. He was identified with various efforts 

 to improve the condition of the working-men, 

 in whose interest he wrote a number of nov- 

 els, of which " Alton Locke " is probably best 

 known. He also wrote "Hypatia; or, New 

 Foes with an Old Face" (1853), "Westward 

 Ho!" (1855), "Two Years Ago" (1857), and 

 " Hereward, the Last of the English " (1866). 

 Besides these, he published a large number of 

 sermons and lectures. 



