KUNGES TO KULDJA 135 



Kuldja is not now much of a place, as though a 

 good deal of trade still comes through from China 

 to Russia, the town has lost the importance which 

 it once possessed as the head of a thriving district ; 

 and the traces of the great rebellion against the 

 Chinese are visible on all sides, where many miles of 

 cultivation have been abandoned, and the fruit trees 

 have either been cut down or have died for want 

 of the necessary irrigation, while roofless ruins of 

 villages and houses are scattered all about. 



The rebellion took place, I believe, in 1850, and 

 began with the complete success of the rebels, 

 who wiped out all the Chinese, to the number, it is 

 said, of 30,000. Most of them were in Swidong, a 

 town some twenty miles to the north-west of Kuldja, 

 which is now the official headquarters of the district, 

 and presumably felt safe behind walls ; but their 

 powder magazine had been mined before the revolt 

 began, and once it was blown up they were done 

 for. After the massacre of the Chinese was over, 

 the inhabitants seem to have taken to killing each 

 other, ?nd to have been very successful at it too. 

 Anyway, Russia occupied the country to keep order, 

 and when the Chinese ransomed it back again, and 

 peacefully reoccupied the district, there were very 

 few survivors left. Russia kept a considerable slice 

 of land down the Hi as an additional honorarium. 



The Chinese have never settled the country up 

 again, in spite of all inducements to do so held out 



