H6 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



itself, and they both treat the " foreign devil " with 

 as much insolence as they think it safe to show. 

 The whole history of the country is one tale of 

 rebellion and massacre at least, since the great 

 rebellion which lasted from 1850 to 1878. The 

 Tungans then got the upper hand at first, and 

 killed all the Chinese, but in the end a Chinese 

 army of extermination arrived (1878-9) and left 

 hardly anyone alive. Very few Chinese have 

 ventured to settle there since, however, and there 

 were very few Tungans left, so nearly all the land 

 has gone out of cultivation, and only ruined villages 

 and homesteads remain as evidence that a numer- 

 ous population once existed there. 



Another reason why the Chinese will not settle 

 here is one that I have already mentioned as 

 applying to Kuldja, i.e. that they fear that Russia 

 will shortly take the country, and they prefer to live 

 under their own Government. From what I have 

 seen of the two rules this is not at all to be 

 wondered at ; failing a Government of their own, 

 even the Turki-Mahommedan races prefer China to 

 Russia as master. 



The Tungans still put in a good deal of their 

 spare time plotting against the Chinese, and, in 

 the opinion of the Chinese officials at least, the 

 country is far from safe. They always insisted on 

 our having an armed escort of eight soldiers. The 

 said officials themselves of course hate the sight 



